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.