Japan seeks bigger role in Asia

Japan seeks bigger role in Asia

By Brian Williams

TOKYO (Reuter): For a man with lots of problems at home, Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has ambitious plans for his country abroad.

His just-concluded eight-day tour of Southeast Asia showed a prime minister eager to walk on the world stage and anxious for Japan to play more than a banker's role in the region.

Hashimoto mainly talked of social justice, democracy and the "Big Power" politics of the United States and China, a dramatic change from narrowly focused trade and economic pronouncements by previous Japanese prime ministers on their regular visits to the region.

But in the end, a trip billed as marking a major change in Japanese policy turned into a reminder that problems at home do not go away and that Asia is now a region of mini-Japans.

As he headed back to Tokyo on Tuesday after his visits to five of the seven members of the association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Hashimoto's and Japan's scorecard might read "no mistakes but harder homework ahead".

Hashimoto went to Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore on his trip, missing out ASEAN members Thailand and the Philippines, countries he visited in 1996.

"If the prime minister cannot fulfill the promises for reform (in Japan) he made on the international stage, then ASEAN leaders, known for their strong leadership, will not only doubt the potential of the prime minister's ability to exert leadership in the Asian region but have doubts about the future of Japan as well," the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper wrote on Tuesday in an analysis of the results of the trip.

In the eight days he was away, Japan's once-booming stock market, in the past an engine for Japan's aid to now-prosperous ASEAN countries, lost 7 percent of its value.

"Southeast Asian nations are becoming more confident about their economic growth, so much so that they no longer have to rely heavily on Japan and Japanese aid for their prosperity," Akio Watanabe, professor of international politics at Tokyo's Aoyama Gakuin University, told Reuters.

"At a time when Japan's presence in Asia is slowly fading, Hashimoto found the need to build a relationship with Asia that was based on more than just money," he added.

Watanabe and several other analysts said the greatest test of a new direction in Japanese foreign policy was how Hashimoto would walk the delicate line between the United States and China, countries long regarded as the most influential players in the region.

"I think the main purpose of Hashimoto's visit this time was to discuss China," said Motofumi Asai, professor of diplomacy at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo.

"Hashimoto is very interested in China, and with no immediate pending issue between Japan and ASEAN nations I strongly suspect that Hashimoto spent a great deal of time discussing the ASEAN nations' views on China, and how the U.S.-Japan security relationship fits in the picture."

Since becoming prime minister a year ago, Hashimoto, a former trade minister respected at home and abroad for no-nonsense dealings with Washington in that post, has presided over closer- than-ever security relations with the United States.

They include more Japanese help for Washington in a crisis on the two Koreas, which are China and Washington's proxies in the area.

"I understand there weren't many negative comments in his visits to the ASEAN countries as they are basically friendly towards Japan," Watanabe said.

"What's more important for Japan is to secure relationships with Korea and China, which have somewhat negative sentiments to Japan. You could say Hashimoto did his easier homework first.