CHAPTER TWO:
BASIC OBJECTIVES OF JAPAN'S
DIPLOMACY
This chapter describes the basic objectives of Japan's diplomacy in the international environment surrounding Japan as reviewed in Chapter One.
I. The international community is today characterized by a growing degree of interdependence among nations. Although it faces many economic difficulties, including not only problems requiring urgent solution such as the worst global recession since the end of World War II, serious unemployment in many countries, inflation, increasing friction in trade relations, and the instability of international currencies, but also such issues as the problem of resources and energy, the North-South problem, the problem of the sea, and many other problems, all of which will have an important bearing on the peace and prosperity of the international community in the medium and long-term as well as in the short-term.
Politically, the international community so far has been able, in part due to the efforts made by the two superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union and other nations, to avoid situations as would undermine the basis of international peace and stability. However, continuing tensions in such areas as the Middle East, Africa, and the Korean Peninsula, together with the military confrontation between East and West in Europe, cannot be ignored as they constitute destabilizing factors in international politics.
None of these problems can be managed by a single nation alone and international coordination and cooperation based on mutual understanding is an indispensable prerequisite to their solution. The need for unified efforts is coming to be increasingly appreciated and recognized within the community of nations.
II. In this international environment, the international community has in recent years placed increasing expectations on Japan as an influential stabilizing force in the world. Under these circumstances, in order to meet such expectations more positively than ever before, Japan has resoluted to make a contribution due to her national capability, facing squarely the fact of growing interdependence in the international community and recognizing the fact that Japan cannot secure its diplomatic objectives of peace and prosperity unless there is peace and prosperity for the entire world.
III. In order to meet positively the expectations of the international community so as to become a "Japan useful to the world," Japan must take the following basic directions.
1. First of all, Japan must continue to maintain firmly its policy of devoting itself to peace, never allowing a hostile relationship to develop with any nation and never becoming a great military power such as would pose a threat to any other nation. As a nation thus committed to peace, it must contribute to the stabilization of international relations on the basis of friendly and cooperative relations with the United States. This devotion to peace, however, must always be accompanied by vigilance and preparedness as Japan faces up to the realities of the international situation. In this sense, it is necessary that Japan firmly maintain its security arrangements with the United States and build up its defense capability as necessary.
Japan has renounced the use of force as a means of settling international disputes and resolved to devote its energies to peaceful construction and prosperity at home and abroad, and it has consistently followed the path of peace since the end of World War II. In order to meet positively the greatly increasing expectations held of Japan by the international community, as already mentioned above, Japan must contribute commensurate with its national strength in the economic, political, cultural, and many other wide-ranging fields.
Especially in view of the conflict and strife which continue to hinder the realization of real peace and stability for the international community in various parts of the world, Japan needs to contribute positively to international efforts to promote the peaceful settlement of these disputes and to bring about a lasting international peace. In view of the importance of promoting arms control measures such as disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation that will contribute to the stabilization of international relations, Japan must, as a nation devoted to peace, contribute positively to international cooperation in this field.
2. Second, as one of the industrialized democracies, Japan must contribute positively to world prosperity.
The international community today is faced with the major task of how to bring the world economy out of the worst recession and confusion since World War II and place it on the path to stable growth. Furthermore, there has even, it must be frankly admitted, been some doubt expressed about whether that free and open trading system which has been the foundation for the world economy's postwar growth is truly an effective means of coping with this international task.
In view of the historical lessons of the 1930s, Japan is convinced that the maintenance and development of the free and open trading system is a basic prerequisite for future world prosperity as well as for Japan's own development. Based on this conviction, Japan must play a positive and constructive international role, through the Tokyo Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations and other forums, for the maintenance and development of the free and open trading system and for the stabilization of international currencies, while actively undertaking all necessary domestic and external measures, including those aimed at reducing its current account surplus, in order to achieve recovery and stable growth in the world economy. Only by making such sustained efforts domestically and externally can Japan prevent the worsening of the international environment and the spread of protectionism.
The North-South problem is also a serious issue with a bearing on the peace and stability of the international community. The continuing dislocations in the world economy have had particularly harsh ramifications for the developing nations, and now more than ever before is it imperative to ensure that these developing nations, including those in Southeast Asia, are able to provide stability for their people's lives, further their economic development, and maintain and promote relationships of constructive cooperation with the advanced industrial democracies.
The kind of international efforts mentioned above can be best pursued when they are founded upon cooperation among Japan, the United States, and Western Europe in view of the fact that these regions, because of their economic power, are playing key and indispensable roles for the stability and prosperity of the world economy. Japan must play a positive and constructive role in promoting that cooperation.
3. Third, Japan must promote interchanges and mutual understanding, thereby building up relations of mutual trust, with all countries of the world irrespective of political system, size, or location.
Friendly and cooperative relations with the United States, including the security arrangements, are the cornerstone of Japanese foreign policy, and the maintenance and strengthening of these close relations with the United States continue to be one of the basic tasks of Japan's diplomacy. It is also an important task of Japanese diplomacy to endeavor to develop the friendly and cooperative relations already existing between Japan and other advanced democracies in Western Europe and elsewhere into a closer relationship firmly based on deep mutual trust as these nations share democratic and liberal values and the same political beliefs with the United States and Japan. Furthermore, it is another basic task of Japan's diplomacy to promote cooperative relations and mutual trust based upon heart-to-heart understanding with the nations of Asia, neighbors sharing with Japan the peace and prosperity of the region. It is also important for Japan to promote dialogues and to maintain stable relations with nations possessing different economic, social, or political systems, particularly to endeavor to maintain and promote friendly relations and to secure stable relations with China and the Soviet Union, neighbors bearing heavily upon Japan's peace and security. Japan must make further efforts to promote its relations with these two countries, always abiding by its basic policy of maintaining friendly relations with all countries of the world.
Japan must actively pursue its multi-faceted diplomacy based on friendship, cooperation, and dialogue in its relations with the countries of the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, always humbly aware that its own security and prosperity largely depend on the maintenance and promotion of friendly relations with all countries of the world.