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There has emerged talk about Japan taking on the role as the "Britain of the Far East," copying the special relationship the United States has with the European country.
Japan began to play the role of Washington's new partner in East Asia when the country signed with the US the new guideline for US-Japan defense cooperation during the then US President Bill Clinton's Japan tour in 1996. Both sides stressed, in the new guideline, that the range of their defense cooperation should be extended to the "surrounding area," which included not only Japan's surrounding waters, but also the "events" aroused by possible civil wars or coup d'état in other countries.
President George W. Bush inherited and developed such strategic thoughts and took the US-Britain special relations as the example to strengthen US-Japan security relations.
To wage its war against Iraq, the US of course first needed the support of Britain, an "iron ally" in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Washington is also in bad need of Japan's support.
The US encourages Japan to spend a big sum of money in certain fields, such as the reconstruction of Iraq.
Tokyo fully understands and closely cooperates with Washington's strategic desires and needs.
It seems that Japan just follows the US. In fact, it has its own plan.
For a long period, there have been people in Japan's leadership who can never forget the imperial mission of realizing "common prosperity for East Asia" and cannot shake off the country's empire complex.
Despite the fact that China has treated Japan as a good neighbor and sought cooperation with it, some Japanese politicians think there should be only one power in Asia. Hence, they are seeking to become the No.1 country in Asia.
It is under such circumstance that the US-Japan strategic partnership and special relationship have been developed. The two countries have even overtly marked out Taiwan as their "common strategic target" and carry out military and security cooperation with each other.
However, Japan, to some extent, is not like Britain. In history, Britain was a key member of the anti-fascist front, but Japan was a part of the fascist block.
Bilaterally, the US could not possibly treat Japan as an equal partner, as it does Britain. The Americans will never forget Pearl Harbor. Nor will the Japanese forget the disaster brought about by the two atomic bombs that fell on the country at the end of World War II.
Although Japan still needs the nuclear protection of the US, it is obvious that it has attempted to develop independently its own military strength.
In terms of geopolitics, Japan's relations with other Asian nations cannot be compared with Britain's relations with other European nations. Though Britain is independent from the France-Germany axis, it has always been a key member of the European Union (EU).
Britain follows the US, but it also keeps a certain distance to strike a balance with EU interests.
Japan is another story. Without paying its "historical debt," Japan follows closely with, and acts completely as, the agent of the US.
So in some aspects Japan acts more as a loyal friend to the US than Britain does.
Britain indicated that it tried to influence Washington's policy through cooperation. In the nuclear issue of Iran, for example, Britain advocated settling the issue through dialogue.
However, Japan is actively subordinate to the US and offers its support in an attempt to be the head power of Asia.
Not only does Japan adopt an irresponsible attitude toward history, it has also been very aggressive in Asia by taking advantage of Washington's support and need.
Japan cooperates closely with the US in its attempt to strategically contain China. It has overtly and covertly upgraded its relations with Taiwan and even attempted to promote secretly the de facto military cooperation between the US, Japan and Taiwan.
In addition, on the issue of EU's debate over the lifting of its arms embargo against China, Japan has actively cooperated with the US to put pressure upon the EU, including Britain.
Such behavior has a negative impact upon peace and stability in Asia, particularly in East Asia.
It is understandable for Japan, the second largest economy in the world, to strive to become a "normal country" and to play a larger role in world affairs.
The problem is that Japan thinks that it can, with US support, ignore the interests and opinions of other Asian nations. However, that will not be as easy as it imagines.
(China Daily May 10, 2005)
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