Breaking the Ice: Political Stability and Economic Cooperation in East Asia

Mr. Yukio Okamoto is the founder and president of Okamoto Associates, Inc., a political and economic consultancy. He served for 23 years in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where his final position was the Director of the North American Affairs Division. Post-retirement, Mr. Okamoto has served in a number of advisory positions, including Special Advisor to two former prime ministers of Japan and advisor to a number of major Japanese multinational companies such as Mitsubishi and Toshiba. Mr. Okamoto was also a 2012-2013 Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies.

The trilateral summit of the US, Japan, and South Korea in March 2014, on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit at The Hague, marked the first formal talks between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Park Geun-Hye since the two leaders took office. Before the trilateral meeting, Park also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to talk about Sino-Korean cooperation. What is your opinion on the implications of these meetings, and more specifically, what do you think Park and Xi’s positions are in terms of the current Japan-China-South Korea relations?

We are very grateful for American intervention. We have been encouraging Ms. Park Geun-Hye to hold the summit talks, which she had refused. Because of Mr. Obama, now the three have met. I hope this is the beginning of engaging bilateral summit talks between Japan and Korea, even without the United States.

Ms. Park Geun-Hye is the first Korean president who has achieved very good relationships with the United States and China at the same time. No former Korean president has done that; it was either/or all the time. Ms. Park did that, but with the result of sacrificing the Japan-Korea relationship. Now she is aiming for trilateral bondage among South Korea, the United States, and China, which I don’t think is the right formulation. I believe that she must share more interest on Japan-Korea relationship.

The current Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has advocated a series of domestic and foreign economic policies, also known as the Abenomics. How do you see his role in developing Japan’s foreign relations with China and South Korea? What do you think is the biggest challenge for him?

Mr. Abe has done remarkably well in terms of Abenomics. Now his greatest task is to improve the relationships with the two countries. He keeps saying that the doors are always open. Japan has been asking to have talks at the summit level with China and Korea, only to be met by their refusal.

Mr. Abe has made his official position very clear to stick to the apology and remorse, although he was provoked through indirect interpretation by the opposition party, and he had used some words that former prime ministers did not use. At heart, I don’t think he is an ultra-rightist. He may be a patriot, but not a jingoist. So once the official channel of dialogue is open, he will make himself understood clearly.

There are many historically persistent obstacles in the bilateral relations of these three East Asian neighbors. Memories of the Nanking massacre, sexual exploitation of “Comfort Women“, andother such atrocities are still haunting the people of China and Korea, especially when Japan does not seem to have acknowledged the history in its textbooks. How do you think Japan should approach these long unresolved national resentment issues?  

There is no excuse for what we did in wartime, and we must bear that burden until the victims, i.e. the two neighboring countries, are satisfied. The way a country expresses its apology and remorse is through several methods. One is an official statement, and two is reparation, both of which Japan did, although it was not fully accepted by China and Korea.

Thirdly, we need to pass the facts about what we committed during the war to our children. There is some misunderstanding about the way Japanese textbooks are written. I have read most of the textbooks, and I think they are objective. The problem is that at the schools, because of the impeding university exams and academic schedule, the history class does not reach that period. I think Japan should establish another course of history – modern and contemporary history – as opposed to other history textbooks dating back to prehistoric days.

One of the blocks lying at the center of Japan-China relations is the territorial dispute on the Diaoyudao/Senkaku Islands. What do you think is the best way to resolve the disagreement?

There are over one hundred territorial disputes in the world, but this is one of the clearest examples that past historical records are overwhelmingly in favor of one party – that is Japan. So rather than squabbling between Japan and China on the Diaoyudao/Senkaku Islands, we should bring the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Japan has one hundred percent confidence about its claim. However, since Japan has no doubt that it belongs to the sovereignty of Japan, it has no reason to bring this issue to the ICJ. I personally urge China to bring this issue, and we will all abide by the decision of the Court.

Progress in trade and investment is providing a bond of mutual benefit for Japan, China, and Korea. Do you think such economic considerations will be a tie strong enough for peace and stability in East Asia, given all the historical resentment issues and territorial disputes?

Past records show that the two are not mutually reinforcing, and are quite independent of each other, i.e. the political and security relationship and the economic relationship. The separation of those two fields is not bad, because the three countries cannot subsist without the economic interrelationship.

Japan has huge investment in China, without which China cannot live. Most of the parts of the products Korea finds competitive in the world are supplied by Japan. Of course, Japan is also benefiting from the trade. Therefore, the economic ties have to remain intact, without interference from security relationships. When tension in the field of security wanes a little bit, that is the time when the economic tie comes in to bolster their relationships.

What is your opinion on Taiwan’s potential economic integration with Mainland China, and how do you think that might affect Japan?

Japan has made it clear that we will not object to any decision reached between the two peoples of China – on the mainland and in Taiwan – so long as no force is being used in the process. In fact, from my personal experience in Taiwan and in southern Mainland China where you find an enormous amount of Taiwanese investment and business people, the virtual integration of the two economies has already begun.

Please offer some closing remarks on the current situation of Japan-China-Korea relations.

An excellent relationship among the three countries is difficult to obtain without the participation of the United States. The US being a major power will continue to be the main pillar of our relationship. Japan has not been able to skillfully conduct a bilateral relationship with any two of these three countries. We hope that the United States will keep, or even increase, its attention in East Asia. I really hope that whatever we do in our generation, the next generation, or even the generation after the next, will be given a fair chance for real rapprochement, which will take efforts by all three countries.

Feature photo: cc/(Republic of Korea)