Japan in hard position as APEC meet nears
Japan in hard position as APEC meet nears
By Peter Starr
TOKYO (AFP): Japan finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place as it heads off to this year's ministerial meeting and summit of leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Indonesia.
Five years after the inaugural meeting of APEC foreign and trade ministers in Canberra in 1989, the world's second-largest economy is still trying to navigate its way through the diversity of 17 members from developing, newly-industrialized and developed economies on both sides of the Pacific.
Long the only Asian member of elite groupings -- such as the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Group of Seven (G7) -- things used to be much easier for Japan.
The biggest market for Japanese exports was the United States and the rest of Asia was largely a backwater.
But with the yen's appreciation and the emergence of other Asian economies boosting Japanese investment and trade throughout the region in recent years, Japan has been forced to steer a new path in its foreign economic relations.
In APEC, a foreign ministry official noted that the "extreme" positions of Australia backing and Malaysia opposing a proposed free-trade area have forced Japan to occupy a position somewhere "in between" the two.
Japan has argued that a specific timetable for developing such an area by 2020, as called for recently by an APEC eminent persons group, would raise problems for the least developed members such as China and Indonesia.
For this reason, the official said, Japan was somewhat "surprised" by recent reports that Indonesia had included the timetable for a free-trade area in a draft of the political declaration to be issued to APEC leaders on Nov. 15.
Japan has since reportedly urged Indonesia to omit any reference to the proposed free-trade area on the grounds that it could run counter to the principles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Yasuhiko Shibata, a senior fellow at the Yomiuri Research Institute, said the Japanese government's external economic policy was "totally unclear" and called this week for the urgent establishment of a basic policy towards Asia.
"If Japan continues to take an ambiguous attitude at the upcoming APEC meeting, Japan may see its reputation nosedive and invite contempt from Asian nations," Shibata said, noting that Japan was hosting next year's meeting.
Tetsuya Endo, the Japanese ambassador in charge of Asia- Pacific cooperation, told AFP that the Nov. 15 declaration would be "very general" as Indonesia would have to accommodate the "natural" cautiousness of countries such as China.
The statement "may not be so specific" and will probably instead deal with such issues as "the coverage of liberalization or, more fundamentally, what liberalization means," he said in an interview.
"The blueprint to implement that declaration, if any, will fall upon the shoulders of (the) next chair country," Endo said, adding that "more difficulties" would emerge at the follow-up meeting if Japan hosts it next year as expected.
Endo refused to comment on reports last week that Malaysia would go ahead and form its proposed East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC) without Japan, which has failed to voice its support for the four-year-old idea amid fears of antagonizing other APEC members such as the United States and Australia.
Japan is still "considering seriously" the Malaysian proposal "but we have two or three big requirements," the Japanese diplomat said.
"It should not draw a demarcation line through the Pacific Ocean. And EAEC should get at least the blessing from countries concerned. In other words, it should not start with opposition from behind in APEC," he said. "Thirdly, maybe EAEC should not disturb the operations or activities in APEC."
APEC groups Brunei, Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States. Chile is to join this month.