Warm handshakes and smiles for the cameras will abound when US
and Japanese leaders meet today for the first time since Japanese
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda took office, but the brief summit
stands little chance of resolving the security headaches bedeviling
the alliance.
Japan's stalled naval mission in support of US-led operations in
Afghanistan and Tokyo's worries over Washington's warming ties with
North Korean will top the agenda when Fukuda makes his diplomatic
debut at a summit in Washington with US President George W.
Bush.
The 71-year-old Japanese leader, who took over in September when
his predecessor suddenly quit, is likely to come back empty-handed
to Tokyo, where a standoff with opposition parties controlling
parliament's upper house is paralyzing policy.
To the dismay of US policy makers, Japan was forced this month
to halt its refueling mission for US and other ships patrolling the
Indian Ocean after opposition parties refused to agree to a new
bill to allow the operations to continue.
For its part, Tokyo fears that Washington may further improve
its ties with North Korea in talks over Pyongyang's nuclear
program, leaving Tokyo out in the cold in its spat with Pyongyang
over the fate of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korean
agents decades ago.
Fukuda said he would have "frank" talks with Bush to boost
bilateral ties.
"Unless we have solid Japan-US relations, we can't fix our
diplomatic stance on Asia," Fukuda said shortly before leaving for
Washington. "We must strive to further strengthen Japan-US
relations and expand bilateral exchanges. Based on that premise, we
want to proceed with our Asia diplomacy."
Norihiko Narita, a political science professor at Surugadai
University, who served as an aide to former Prime Minister Morihiro
Hosokawa in the early-1990s, when US-Japan relations were also
fraught, said Fukuda was on a particularly difficult diplomatic
mission.
"I can't recall in my memory a Japan-US relationship so full of
problems," he said.
"The US visit is going to be a heavy burden for Fukuda," Narita
added. "He faces a tough domestic political situation, so his
options are very limited."
Parliament's lower house this week approved a government bill to
restart the naval mission, but its enactment is far from certain
given that the main opposition Democratic Party and its smaller
allies, who can delay legislation, are against it.
"The passage in the lower house is a 'gift' that Fukuda can
bring to Bush, but it is a very small one," said Toshikazu Inoue, a
political science professor at Gakushuin University.
The ruling coalition could use its two-thirds majority in the
lower house to override an upper house vote, but the rarely used
tactic could spark a backlash and even trigger a snap election.
(China Daily November 16, 2007)
