08.10.2004
Don: Japan may shift future direction towards Asia
Byline: NICK LEONG
PETALING JAYA: The rise of Asia as an economic powerhouse will force Japan to re-evaluate its alliance with the United States as Tokyo has historically showed an inclination to ally itself with the hegemonic power of the day.
International University of Japan professor John B. Welfield said such a policy had benefited Japan as it kept the country's military commitment to the minimum while maximising its political options.
“However, with the rise of Asia as an economic powerhouse and the gradual decline of America, we might see Japan slowly shifting its future direction towards the region (Asia),” he said at a public lecture entitled Japan and a Rising Asia at Menara Star here yesterday
The lecture was jointly organised by the Malaysian Association for Japan Studies and the Asian Centre for Media Studies, a subsidiary of The Star.
Prof Welfield said Japan's alliance with the US was underpinned by a peace treaty, signed after World War II, which secured US presence in the region and ensured the safety and prosperity of Japan.
Prof Welfield said the emergence of China as a superpower to rival the US could force Japan to choose between Asianism and Westernism.
He said Japan's national identity had swung “like a pendulum” and remained as much an issue now as it was in 1895 during the period of modernisation under the Meiji Restoration.
Prof Welfield said there was a possibility of a Sino-Japan alliance if the US continued to “slide down the path of self-decay.”
He said such an alliance would stimulate a lot of interest in Tokyo but would be resisted by regional countries like South Korea, Vietnam or even India.
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