View Single Post
(#51 (permalink))
Old
Ronin4hire's Avatar
Ronin4hire (Offline)
Busier Than Shinjuku Station
 
Posts: 2,353
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: ウェリントン、ニュジランド
02-25-2009, 11:03 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by komitsuki View Post
That's the business level. I'm talking about the political level. And not all countries' friendly relationships are equal.

Even there are many countries in the world whose public or government don't like America and still willing to trade with America. After all, (petro)dollar doesn't know any boundary and America has the opportunity to do anything to do business with other unfriendly countries in a passive way.

But at least Japan is doing a very good job of unintentionally breaking Japan-American friendship. Of course it's from the ongoing self-collapse of a very USA-friendly party called LDP.
But why would Japan severe ties with the US to the extent of siding with China and Russia in the balance of power situation that makes up East Asia?

It makes no sense politically.

It's kind of annoying that the article claims that Japan seeks to move to a more multilateral foreign policy yet people seem to equate that to following the will of China as opposed to America.

Granted that Nyororin's post sort of ignited it based on her experiences with the party that is set to come into power and that's fine. But I think that's the only context in which such a discussion can be made.

We have to assume that Japan is a rational actor on the world stage (even if as Nyororin points out that it might not be). It makes no sense for Japan to ditch it's long standing, traditional ally for it to become allies with the Chinese and Russians so I don't know why you're even contemplating that.

Anyway I think this is a very wise move for Japan. The United States global influence is diminishing. Japan needs to establish itself as a regional power in Asia in relation to it's neighbours other than the balance of power situation it's currently in. We also need to remember that Asia does not consist of just China. What about India? A Japanese-Indian alliance could contain China (I guess.. I'm just thinking aloud now) and it makes more sense for Japan to become allies with India over China.
Reply With Quote