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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Japan a new foreign Policy headache for US |
| 2009-09-03 |
| [Iran Press TV Latest] The newly elected Democratic Party in Japan has burdened the Obama administration with a new foreign policy headache in Asia, adding to its troubles facing Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea. Japan's new rulers may back away from upholding Washington's priorities including the war in Afghanistan or the redeployment of American troops in Asia, The Washington Post reports in a Wednesday article, quoting an anonymous senior US official. Testimony to the new Democratic Party's shift of policy towards the US, is a recent announcement regarding considerations to cancel Japan's mission to refuel American warships near Afghanistan and to relocate a US Marine airfield on Okinawa. The party's leader and presumptive Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, recently lashed out at the American-led globalization and urged a greater Japanese focus on Asia. "The election of a new party could produce new ways of doing things, which we will have to adjust to," said a senior official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. "You'll have this period of unpredictability." Washington analysts have begun to ask whether the Sunday's victory of the Japan's Democratic Party against the Liberal Democratic Party was indicative of a deeper change in the Asian country's orientation and a move away from its long-time dependence on the United States. "There is a fear of dramatic change in the U.S.-Japan alliance," said Michael Auslin, an expert on Japanese foreign policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "No one knows what will happen next, or even who to talk to for answers." Yet, even Japan's rulers are doubtful that their country is going to step out the US sphere of influence, especially in the face of China's herculean rise and a nuclear-capable North Korea. "They do not have a mandate for changing the alliance with the U.S.," said Yukio Okamoto, a former adviser to several prime ministers on foreign affairs. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 The Liberal Democrats have been in power too long, with the same problems that the PRI had in Mexico. Because it was the only way to political power for so long, lots of scoundrels moved in who didn't believe their core values. Japan has a lot of internal problems that have been ignored for years as well, and they will probably come busting out in short order. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-09-03 00:22 |