Tag Archives: Other Sites

Welcome to Transpacifica

[NOTE TO FRIENDS: Please update your blogrolls]

As of today, Transpacific Triangle is now Transpacifica (transpacifica.net). The old address and all links will continue to work, but visitors are redirected to the new site. Here’s some of what you can expect from this site in its new incarnation:

After a year focusing on China–Japan–U.S. relations, this site will include a wider variety of content. I’m still interested in this important trilateral relationship, and it will still consume much of my attention, but I have come to be interested in other transpacific issues. One is the role of Latin America. Over the last year I have followed the ASEAN and APEC fora, as well as the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear activities, but this new “transpacific” emphasis will allow me to follow these issues within the site’s declared scope.
One of the most important changes around here is that I now live in an Asian capital instead of the U.S. capital. Living in Beijing means my life is much more China-oriented than before, and this site is no different. International issues are still the core of this project, but I have decided to include posts about Beijing and China here instead of starting another blog for the purpose.
Things you will see more of:
- The Environment: For anyone living on Earth, this is one of the biggest questions of the day. For someone living in Beijing, every day is a reminder of the urgent need for change. I will be following Chinese and international efforts to address environmental issues with greater energy from now on.
- The Arts: One of the most powerful modes of international communication, especially among young people, is the flow of cultural creations. Washington, D.C., is no center for innovative art (though not devoid of it completely). Beijing, on the other hand, has a growing art and music scene where international reactions to the work are nearly as interesting as the work itself. And, of course, it’s no chore for me to spend time learning about art and music.
- Profiles of Excellent Resources: From very good blogs to useful databases to remarkable books, I plan to spend more time introducing resources for scholars, journalists, and other interested readers. If all goes as planned, one day I will have a body of resource profiles that will itself be a useful resource.
Things you will see less of:
- Daily News Links: I am stopping the practice of adding many articles every day to del.icio.us and posting them on this site. This worked well when I spent every day at a desk and could add them as I took breaks from work, but in this lifestyle it feels like a chore. My data shows that most readers weren’t all that interested in these entries anyway. Instead I will occasionally publish link posts with especially interesting links.
- Insider Washington Talk: Leaving Washington, D.C., behind, I also left behind its think-tank events, its local scholar-gossip, and the tremendous resource of my former workplace. I still have friends and read, but my first-hand work is now in Beijing.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the new site. Comments are welcomed via e-mail at g7 atmark gwbstr period com.

–Graham

Obvious Headline of the Month

1 Reply

From the Associated Press comes a new penetrating analysis:

“1937 invasion hinders China-Japan ties.”

It’s actually a decent article for a general audience. Just not exactly an insightful headline from the AP desk.

Japan, U.S. Concerned About Restrictions on Foreign News in China

This Week: China-Japan Ties Easing, Nakasone Broaches Nuclear Japan

3 Replies

It’s been a news-filled week for Japan-China relations and Japan in general, leading up to the LDP election later this month.

Several signs that tensions between China and Japan may ease after Koizumi’s departure emerged this week.

Using the a signed commentary in the People’s Daily overseas edition, the Chinese government demanded Abe Shinzo take a stand on shrine visits, writing Thursday, “Perhaps the strategists and advisers at Abe’s side see this strategy of ambiguity as a success, but they appear to have forgotten the lesson that sincerity can vanquish a hundred tricks. … Abe must ultimately use facts to demonstrate whether he’s truly serious about relations with China.” [The Reuters story apparently refers to this People’s Daily commentary, which is hard to interpret because of a rough translation.]
It is unclear whether he was responding to this specific call (I suspect not), but Abe said in a news conference he did not believe a fresh Japanese war apology was necessary from him as a new prime minister.
On Friday, Abe said he intended to meet with top Chinese and South Korean leaders at the November APEC meeting to calmly discuss political problems such as Yasukuni visits (「（靖国神社参拝などの）政治問題が拡大しないように冷静に対応するための会談だ。」). He added that he thinks China is coming to realize that “playing the Yasukuni card” was a mistake. (From a Japanese language Yomiuri Shimbun report.)
An English language Kyodo dispatch reported that Yomiuri had said more: That report said Abe will likely skip a Yasukuni visit during the fall festival in October to smooth relations with China before the meeting.
Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan said President Hu Jintao expressed the desire that China and Japan commit to peaceful coexistence and cooperation. Repeating well-worn phrasing, Tang also said, “We will adhere to the principle and make joint efforts with Japan in pushing ahead bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields and properly handling the existing problems and obstacles.” “Properly handling” is a key phrase, which has been used before to admonish Japanese leaders over textbooks and Yasukuni Shrine. The report appeared in the Chinese official press.An AFP report added that Tang had said that a “wise decision” on Yasukuni was a precondition for China to consider a November meeting with Abe.
The first “working level” financial talks between China and Japan since 2002 were held this week. AFP reported that an official gave the dubious excuse of “scheduling difficulties” as the reason that the annual talks had been held up. It is widely believed that such summits were stopped over Chinese objections to Koizumi’s shrine visits, and with some research, it may be possible to find reports where this was said publicly for these particular meetings, contradicting the new statement.

In other news, a new report issued by former Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro’s think tank, the Institute for International Policy Studies, proposes that Japan study the possibility of obtaining its own nuclear capabilities. I have not read the report, “Japan’s National Image in the 21st Century,” but a Japan Times article reported that Nakasone acknowledged that Japan is protected by what many call the U.S. nuclear umbrella, but he said it is unclear whether the umbrella will remain.

Indeed, as Japan strengthens itself, the United States may put less emphasis on protecting Japan. It is unlikely, however, that U.S. strategic interests in the region will diverge from those of Japan in the near future. My question is, how much study does it really take for Japan to create nuclear weapons, given its high scientific capabilities and prominent use of nuclear power? Since it is a virtual certainty that Japan could produce a nuclear deterrent quickly in a pinch, Nakasone is likely attempting to guide Japan in a hawkish direction to the extent that he still has influence.

China and South Korea Appear Ready to Deal With Abe

Leave a reply

You could say I’m behind, not yet having addressed Abe Shinzo’s official announcement that he’s running for LDP president, and the more important announcement that he would get behind constitutional revision full-force as prime minister. “I’d like to draft a new constitution with my own hands,” he said.

In fact, top LDP officials have said publicly for months that the U.S.-imposed “Peace Constitution” should be revised to more accurately reflect present day military realities. Certainly, the existence of the Self Defense Forces and Japan’s status as the fourth largest military spender in the world betray the reality that Japan does not adhere to Article 9 of that constitution, in which it “forever” renounces force or the threat of force as an instrument of foreign policy and bars the maintenance of armed forces. That Abe came out in support of a change is no surprise, and it’s probably not a bad idea.

What’s surprising is that regional reaction seems to be subdued. My experience in reading public rhetorical exchanges from across the East China Sea led me to expect a firm negative response to the revision; I expected that the Chinese regime would hail this change as part of a “new rise in Japanese militarism.” I expected a similar response from South Korea.

On the contrary, China’s state-controlled media have been mostly silent (from what I can see in English) on Abe’s announcement, with only a straight news-style report from Xinhua. Meanwhile, South Korea has invited Abe to meet with Roh Moo Hyun, who has refused to meet with Koizumi since November over his Yasukuni visits.

Abe has said that improving regional ties is a key goal of his presumed premiership. A Voice of America online article notes that this common-sense sentiment is not unique to Abe. Although Foreign Minister Aso Taro has essentially no chance of winning election, he has weighed in, saying that personality differences between Koizumi and regional leaders were the problem, not his shrine visits. (This makes sense from a man who is perhaps more of a nationalist than Koizumi and who advocates the re-nationalization of Yasukuni.) The finance minister, Tanigaki Sadakazu, another long-shot LDP candidate is the only candidate to say he would not visit the shrine as prime minister. Japanese finance ministers, who need to work with Chinese and South Korean counterparts even in a tense diplomatic climate, tend to be less controversial internationally.

No one knows whether Abe will continue visiting the shrine, but the mere change of leadership gives all sides the opportunity to recast the Yasukuni issue, which had been mired in Koizumi’s rhetoric since 2001. It is by no means inconceivable that Abe will visit the shrine and improve ties with China and South Korea. If the debate is reframed so that no one has to go back on any strong public stances, then there is a great deal of diplomatic wiggle room in Northeast Asia.

Japanese Foreign Minister Machimura Nobutaka acknowledged that fact Sunday, saying: “The Japan-China relationship is not so simple that it does not go anywhere unless we decide what is right on the Yasukuni issue.” Machimura sees a Japan–China summit as possible as early as November, at the APEC meeting.

One thing is for certain, Yasukuni has been no one’s litmus test in the selection of Abe. It has stayed mostly out of the picture, and we will have to wait and see what happens to the site’s symbolic significance following Koizumi’s departure.