Monday, July 21, 2003By RICHARD HALLORAN
Special to The Japan Times
HONOLULU -- Two journeys to Tokyo this past week have underscored the forging of a new, albeit informal, triple alliance comprising Japan, Australia and Britain that stands alongside the United States in the war on terror.
First, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia met with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to concur that North Korea must be dissuaded from its nuclear ambitions by a multinational effort. That is the demand of U.S. President George W. Bush, who has lumped North Korea with Iraq and Iran as an axis of evil.
Then, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, fresh from a visit to Washington, followed Howard to Tokyo to agree that both pressure and negotiations were needed to get North Korea to give up its nuclear program.
Koizumi, Howard and Blair have been marching along parallel roads for many months. Each has taken a strong diplomatic stand in support of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Each has been vigorously opposed in politics at home for taking that stance. All three have dispatched armed forces to Iraq -- Britain and Australia with troops on the ground and Japan with warships and logistics vessels at sea.
Perhaps most important, all three have given the same reason for aligning themselves with the U.S., which is that it serves their national interests now. As Lord Palmerston, the famed British prime minister, asserted in the 19th century: "We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual and those interests it is our duty to follow."
The Japanese, Australian and British leaders have not sided with the U.S. because they think the Americans are good guys or even that Bush was right to invade Iraq. They have decided, in this day of Bush's maxim "you are either for us or for the terrorists," that it is better to be allied with the world's superpower than to oppose it.
Their reasons for looking to America for political and military backing are discernible:
* Many Japanese have recently expressed concern over an immediate threat from North Korea, which has 200 to 300 missiles that could reach Japan, is seeking nuclear arms, and has abducted Japanese citizens from their homeland. In the longer run, Japan is wary of the emergence of a powerful and belligerent China.
* Australians are worried about what they call the "Near North," meaning Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Muslim extremists exploded a bomb in a nightclub in Bali in October 2002, killing nearly 200 people, many of them Australian tourists. Those extremists are known to be operating in several other Southeast Asian nations.
* The British have been confronted with an attempt by France and Germany to turn the European Union into a bloc that would dominate Britain and contain American influence.
Britain, which has long sought to maintain a balance of power in Europe, has been part of a triple alliance before, including one with Sweden and the Netherlands against France in 1668.
Beyond power politics, the most immediate benefit gained by the triple alliance is that British, Australian and Japanese leaders have quick access to the highest levels of Washington. As an Australian White Paper said earlier this year: "We have never been better placed to put our views before the United States -- and have them heard -- including on issues where we disagree."
Contrast that position with the anti-American posture of France whose leaders slammed the U.S. on Bastille Day, the French national holiday on July 14, then announced that France would not send troops to help police strife-ridden Iraq. It does not take a degree in political science to figure that the French ambassador's telephone calls to the White House are not likely to be answered readily.
For the U.S., the triple alliance provides a triangle of democratic allies on islands off the eastern, southeastern and western shores of the Eurasian land mass. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz took note of two of the three when addressing the recent Shangri-La conference of defense ministers in Singapore. He said:
"Japan is in the process of its own national level evaluation and planning process, driven in part by new threat dynamics, and will make decisions based on its own needs as well as the perceived strength of our relationship.
"Australia's central role in Iraq, its support to coalition efforts in Afghanistan and its commitment to fight terrorism at home prove once again how valuable it is to have an ally that takes security and its commitments to the common defense seriously."
Richard Halloran, formerly a correspondent for Business Week, The Washington Post and The New York Times, is a freelance journalist.
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