Preserving stability

This week's Clinton-Hashimoto summit in Tokyo has been weighted heavily towards security issues. Both sides now realize that the passing of the Soviet Union has not ended tension in East Asia nor lessened the value of security ties. The point is not that trade is more or less important than military affairs, but that free trade and prosperity depend on continuing stability.

Now the two nations have renewed and extended their long- standing security alliance.

In recent years, people in both nations have tended to feel ill-used by the security alliance. Americans have wondered why they should defend Japan, given the trade surpluses it racks up and the peace constitution that prevents it from assisting U.S. forces in return. Japanese have asked why they should put up with the burden of U.S. bases, which some politicians have described as serving U.S. interests most of all.

Given the asymmetry, if not inequality, in the alliance, tensions will remain. To help alleviate them, the United States should take further steps to reduce the resentment its bases cause, perhaps by sharing more facilities with Japanese military and civilians. Japan must take more steps to open its market and its economy. Its trade surplus, while declining, remains huge, and the freeloader argument will not go away until truly fair trade is established.

Finally, Japan must continue to find new ways, consistent with its constitution and the anxieties of its once conquered neighbors, to expand its contributions to regional peace. Given the history, that process should not be sudden. Japan has taken a small step in the right direction this week, and small steps are precisely what is needed.

-- The Washington Post