Koizumi endangers future of East Asia Community

Koizumi endangers future of East Asia Community

Begi Hersutanto, Jakarta

The latest visit by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to
the Yasukuni war shrine on Monday once again sparked controversy
in China and South Korea.

While Koizumi's visit to the shrine drew a strong reaction in
the neighboring countries, his visit this time also caused much
debate domestically. Many citizens shared the fear that Koizumi's
action would jeopardize Japan's relations with its neighbors and
would endanger the national interests of Japan.

While many citizens shared these same concerns, some
politicians supported Koizumi's action, which they said was an
internal matter for Japan and of no concern to other countries.

Despite Koizumi's statement to the media that his visits to
the Yasukuni shrine are conducted in his capacity as a private
citizen, not in his capacity as prime minister, his actions show
arrogance and insensitivity to neighboring countries. Koizumi's
visits have the potential not only to jeopardize Japan's foreign
relations, but also endanger the prospects of regional community
building, which is currently an ongoing process.

As Koizumi argues that his visits to the Yasukuni shrine are
conducted in a private capacity, his perspective with regard to
this matter seems rather diluted, since whether he realizes it or
not, his private actions will have a direct impact on his image
as prime minister and also on the image of his administration.
This has the potential to jeopardize Japan's foreign policy and
to create unfortunate and unnecessary regional tensions.

Japan recently proposed (although it failed) the enlargement
of the United Nations Security Council, with itself receiving a
permanent seat on the council. In this regard, Koizumi's visits
to the war shrine might have had an impact on the image of his
administration and the image of Japan as a possible permanent
member of the UN Security Council.

Japan also has been very active in supporting the first-ever
East Asia Summit, scheduled for Dec. 14, 2005, in Kuala Lumpur.
Japan has been very supportive even since the idea was launched
by ASEAN member states at the end of 2004, with this summit
potentially leading to the establishment of an East Asia
Community that would include the member states of ASEAN plus
China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

The idea of the East Asia Community itself has been viewed
with some skepticism with regard to its visibility, its
sustainability and its possible future role, and the
establishment of an East Asia Community faces numerous
significant challenges, including the relationship between China
and Japan.

China-Japan relations have been bothered by numerous unsettled
issues, including territorial maritime disputes and other
sensitive issue such as the history of Japanese occupation in
China during World War II. This issue remains very delicate for
current relations between the two countries, and one of the
triggers for tension related to this issue is visits to the
Yasukuni shrine by Japanese high officials.

With regard to the prospects for the establishment of the East
Asia Community, the resolution of Chinese-Japanese tensions is
deemed as necessary for the sustainability of this community, so
that it will be able to play a significant role in future
regional cooperation.

There are many challenges standing in the way of the
establishment of the East Asia Community, and any further
tensions in the future could entirely derail the project.
In other words, Koizumi's personal actions are not making things
any easier.

The future East Asia Community must be a community where each
community member respects the other. In other words, Japan's
neighbors will have to summon the will and the power to forgive
and move on, while Japan, despite its protests of this being an
internal affair, will have to be more careful not to irritate its
neighbor, creating unfortunate and unnecessary tension.

The writer, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies, Jakarta, is currently a visiting research
fellow at the Ushiba Memorial Program in Tokyo. He can be reached
at begi_hersutanto@csis.or.id.