Posted on 05/28/2008 12:01:19 PM PDT by calcowgirl
The U.S.-Japan alliance has been the indispensable anchor of peace, prosperity and freedom in the Asia-Pacific for more than 60 years, and its importance will only grow in the years ahead. Deepening cooperation, consultation and coordination between Washington and Tokyo is the key to meeting the collective challenges that both of our nations face--from nuclear proliferation to climate change--and to advancing our common interest in building a safer, better world for all of our citizens.
In many respects, the U.S.-Japan alliance has never been stronger. Polls consistently show deep support for the alliance among Americans and Japanese alike. Our security partnership has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years, measured in terms of interoperability, technology-sharing, and joint exercises. And we are deeply grateful for the continuing contributions that Japanese forces have made to the international fight against terrorism.
Rather than resting on the gains we have achieved, however, the next U.S. president must work with our Japanese allies to build on them. In particular, in a swiftly changing Asia, it is critical that our alliance must be founded and focused on a shared vision of the future. We must ask ourselves what our two nations, as equal partners, want to accomplish together in the world, and then how we can modernize our alliance and its capabilities in order to advance the interests and values we share.
Some of the challenges we face together are already apparent. With respect to North Korea, for example, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was right: We must bring both dialogue and pressure to bear on Pyongyang. We have the right framework in the six-party talks and the right tools in the U.N. Security Council resolution passed after North Korea's 2006 nuclear test, as well as the U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateral coordination group. Now we must use those tools to press for the full, complete, and verifiable declaration, disablement and dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons programs--goals already agreed upon by the six parties.
Future talks must also prioritize North Korea's ballistic missile programs, its abduction of Japanese citizens, and its human rights record. Whatever our other strategic priorities, these objectives are important to our allies, and thus they must be of importance to us. The president of the United States must never forget that hundreds of thousands of North Koreans languish in gulags, and that families in Japan and South Korea await the return of their loved ones, abducted by North Korea. We cannot turn our back on them.
The United States and Japan must also work closely together with regard to China--not to contain or isolate Beijing, but to ensure its peaceful integration as a responsible stakeholder in the international system. In fact, it is precisely by strengthening our alliance and deepening our cooperation that Japan and the United States can lay the necessary groundwork for more durable, stable, and successful relations with China.
Another priority of the next U.S. President must be to expand the United States' economic relationships in Asia and build the case at home and abroad for an open, inclusive system of international trade. Unfortunately, in what has become an all-too-predictable pattern, some U.S. politicians--including the two Democratic candidates for president--are preying on the fears stoked by Asia's dynamism; rather than encouraging U.S. innovation and entrepreneurship, they instead propose throwing up protectionist walls that will leave us all worse off.
This kind of protectionism is profoundly irresponsible. The United States has never won respect or created jobs by retreating from free trade, and we cannot start doing so now.
Ultimately, the enduring strength of the United States' alliance with Japan is rooted not just in a set of shared interests, but in the bedrock of shared values. Thanks to the success of Japan's democracy, numerous other nations across Asia have been inspired to follow in its path. In fact, more people live under democratic government in Asia today than in any other region of the world. Japan is a major reason why.
Japan's leaders have spoken eloquently about the importance of democracy in Asia. India's prime minister has called liberal democracy "the natural order of social and political organization in today's world."
We agree. No nation or culture holds a monopoly on the insight that all men and women are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights. These are not only universal truths; they are also the indispensable bedrock for the shared prosperity and stability we all desire.
That is precisely why the United States and Japan have a clear interest in enshrining these norms and values at the center of our international system. It is also why the great Pacific democracies--Japan, the United States, Australia, India and others--have a clear interest in increasing their cooperation wherever possible to create a regional architecture that favors freedom.
Strengthening the U.S.-Japan alliance is going to demand strong, courageous, and innovative leadership from Tokyo and Washington alike. We hope and expect to have a partner in Japan that is willing to assume a role in international affairs that reflects its political, economic, and self-defense capacities, and that is willing to think creatively and ambitiously about strategic issues. We likewise hope and expect to have a partner in Japan that is confident enough in its competitiveness to advance economic reform at home and more expansive trade liberalization in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and the Doha Round.
For all of these reasons, we welcome Japan's emergence as a global power, encourage its effective diplomacy, and support its bid for permanent membership in the U.N. Security Council.
The United States in turn must itself be a responsible, reliable ally to Japan, and a good global citizen. We must take much more seriously our responsibility to address our contribution to climate change, for instance, if we are to persuade others to take seriously their responsibilities to do the same.
U.S. power does not mean we can do whatever we want, whenever we want. On the contrary, our position in Asia has been strongest when we have listened to our friends and put our alliances first. If we are to ask more of each other, we must also pay greater attention to each other's concerns and goals.
This spirit of mutual respect and trust is essential to our alliances with Japan--trust in the reliability of our security commitments, trust in the integrity of our economic promises, and trust in the consistency of our principles. Renewing these commitments can provide the basis for a new century of shared prosperity, security, and freedom for the United States and Japan alike.
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McCain, a U.S. senator representing Arizona, is seeking the Republican party nomination for U.S. president. Lieberman is an independent U.S. senator representing Connecticut and a former vice-presidential candidate for the Democratic party.
There he goes again. This time appealing to the readers of a Japanese daily newspaper.
He’s going to sign Kyoto and his bootlickers will applaud it as a brilliant foreign policy move.
The same honorable and principles statesman who tried to have US military mail-in ballots from Florida tossed so he could be Vice President?
Is this the same "Independent" Lieberman that worked in the McCain “Republican” campaign? Is McCain hanging out with "Scum Buckets" again?
The same one. It was like a comedy when he whispered answers to McCain.
Yes, yes, yes and are your really all that surprised?
I think I know who wrote this (originally) on his staff. Maybe I can check around to confirm.
Thank you for posting. However your objection is essentially over a footnote.
The Bush White House had some of the best prose coming out about the evils of North Korea, including some good photo ops and leaked comments by the President himself to rattle Pyongyang, but in reality the ACTUAL DIPLOMACY has been one of abject appeasement, conciliation, naivete, process-oriented over results-oriented, bending backwards (and over!) and accomodation over the last 2-3 years coming out of the Lame Duck Mansion on 16th Street.
Dont believe a WORD these buzzards write. It if often just kabuki, if you get my drift. 本音 VS. 建前 . I prefer to stick with the 本音.
Is that your interpretation? In what sense?
This cannot be accomplished without a dramatic 180 degree change in course from current Japan-alienating Bush rapproachment policy on North Korea, and also a whole-scale clean out of the US State Department—I mean down to the assistant deputy assistant to the assistant secy leve—if Scarface were to even be elected President. Do you really think this will happen?
I always prefer the 本音, which becomes clearer and clearer every day. I saw a snip of Vaclav Klaus on television yesterday who stated the 本音 in no uncertain words.
'Like their (communist) predecessors, they will be certain that they have the right to sacrifice man and his freedom to make their idea reality,' he said.In this essay by McCain and Lieberman, the intent is clearly appeasement and a move to McCain's vision of a new global order and being good global citizens with international supervision (imo).'In the past, it was in the name of the Marxists or of the proletariat - this time, in the name of the planet,' he added.
Not a footnote. The essay includes the messages throughout.
BTW, Savage played "California Uber Alles" by The Dead Kennedy's the other day. The lyrics were WILD in this regard.
The original Jerry Brown version or the updated Schwarzenegger version?
I don’t know - I see that as the general tone of the article I suppose. What’s not mentioned I believe is the league of democracies concept that McCain has been touting. That provides another insight into this.
Ok, but it’s not the focal point of McCain’s vision for US-Japanese relations.
The State Department is a serious problem, I agree. Change needs to be incremental. In fact that’s the only change you’ll ever get. It starts by continuing to elect Republicans not Democrats to steer State. As positions open you do what Rudy suggested and close them with no replacements.
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