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In Japan, the Pentagon rules
February 16, 1999
By Edward Neilan
Special to World Tribune.com
TOKYO---Which arm of the United States government has the most influence in
Japan?
The answer is the Department of Defense, which oversees 100,000 troops
in Asia--
one third of them in Japan--all of which are now within range of North
Korean missiles.
Then there is the added responsibility--one which Japanese politicians
shun even talking about--
of managing the external security deterrent for Japan, familiarly known as
the "nuclear umbrella."
The U.S. Treasury department is second in terms of U.S. governmental
clout in Japan. Secretary Robert Rubin is well-respected and there is good
dialog, for the most part. Japan lets itself be nudged on some points
because of this respect. The American financial establishment, including
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, deals with something the Japanese
know and admire--money.
Third-ranked in terms of American influence in Japan (the White House
is fourth) is the State Department. Secretary Madeline Albright will
visit China Feb. 28 for two days, then Thailand for a day, then
Indonesia, then back home. That's called the "leading edge" of U.S. policy
in Asia.
Visit Japan? No way.
Assistant Secretary of State for Asia and Pacific Stanley Roth, who
will celebrate his 45th birthday next month, recently spent several days
visibly dealing with Asian affairs. The first was in Davos, Switzerland at
the World Economic Forum, then he went to Indonesia.
Visit Japan?. No way.
In fact, in Davos he gave what turned out to be a full-page interview
in Asiaweek magazine(Feb. 19 issue), managing to mention almost every
country in Asia, except Japan.
Thank goodness for Ambassador Thomas Foley's occasional speech and
ribbon--cutting or we wouldn't even know the State Department existed in
Tokyo.
What's going on here?
The convergence of issues in Northeast Asia is startling. At least
Secretary of Defense William Cohen shows up here frequently; so frequently
that some feel he may have a second home home in Minato-ku.
There is the North Korean missile fear, emerging from the missile
Pyongyang fired across Japan last year and igniting worries in Japan (it's
about time!) over danger from that direction. There is China's uncertainty
about how to deal with the North Korean missiles. There is the arguing
among Japan-South Korea-U.S. over how to handle North Korea ranging from
"Sunshine policy" to a policy we might call "darkness at noon" favored by
some in the Pentagon. North Korea, as expert Katsumi Sato pointed out
(Japan Times, Feb. 14), goes merrily on its way, playing the neighborhood
for a bunch of fools.
Former Secretary of Defense William Perry is drafting a report to make
some sense out of a flawed U.S. policy toward North Korea and will be
bringing it to Tokyo and other Asian points next month.
The report is expected to expand on U.S. proposals for a Theater Missile
Defense (TMD) that would defend Japan and South Korea. China didn't like
the idea even before Taiwan was mentioned as a possible benefactor and
partcipant in the Star Wars-like shield.
More recently, there is the China missile-rattling which press reports
have characterized as 100 ballistic missiles aimed across the Taiwan Strait
at Taipei and other cites. Subsequent reports have
said there is nothing new to that deployment.
And in the background, questions like if Japan is attacked by North
Korean missiles, who will defend it? The United States? Would Japan agree
to U.S. retaliation on North Korea for such attacks?
Meanwhile, the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty of 1960 is the most pertinent
diplomatic document between the two countries. In fact, the Pentagon calls
the shots because of the troop and force deployment of Americans.
Polls have shown that most Japanese know little if anything about the
31,669 U.S. military personnel based in Japan today. Of them, 1,808 are
Army, 6,521 are Navy, 19,311 are Marine Corps, and 14,029 are Air Force.
The aircraft carrier USS Kittyhawk is now based at Yokosuka, south of
Tokyo. It is the only American aircraft carrier home-ported outside the
United States.
The Kittyhawk carries 5,500 sailors and 80 aircraft, currently including
two squadrons of F/A-18C
Hornets and one squadron of F-14A Tomcats.
Arriving with the Kittyhawk was the USS Chancellorsville, a cruiser
with the U.S. Navy's latest combat systems suite, including increased
missile capabilities.
The Chancellorsville is equipped with the AEGIS weapons system, M41
vertical launching system, anti-submarine rockets, Tomahawk cruise missiles
and the Phalanx close-in weapons system. It has a total capacity of 122
air, surface shipping and land attack missiles.
Edward Neilan (eneilan@crisscross.com) is a veteran journalist, based in Tokyo, who covers East Asia and writes weekly for World Tribune.com.
February 16, 1999
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