Japan opposition softens policy stance

By Mure Dickie in Tokyo
Published: July 23 2009 22:43 |
Last updated: July 23 2009 22:43

Japan’s opposition Democratic party has dropped its call for “radical” change to an agreement governing US forces in the country, reversed its opposition to current overseas military missions and softened its stance on a territorial dispute with Russia.

The changes – seen by local analysts as an embrace of foreign policy “realism” ahead of the DPJ’s expected victory in next month’s general election – should help to ease US concerns that the likely end of the Liberal Democratic party’s long rule could upset a US-Japan alliance that is a cornerstone of east Asian security.

The moves were included in an index of DPJ policies released on Thursday that is intended to form the basis of the party’s manifesto for the August 30 election, which opinion polls suggest the opposition is on course to win.

The DPJ’s previous commitment to launch a “radical revision” of the agreement governing US bases in Japan had fuelled worries in Washington about the implications of victory for the left-of-centre opposition.

However, the new policy index mentions only an intention to “propose revisions” to the agreement and removes references to the need to “reduce the burden” of hosting US bases.

The top US commander in Japan, Lieutenant General Edward Rice, warned on Thursday that whoever won the election, there should be no attempt to change an existing plan for “realignment” of US forces in Okinawa, including the construction of a new marine helicopter base long opposed by DPJ members.

“The [realignment] road map is not a menu from which either side can pick and choose,” Reuters quoted commander Lt Gen Rice as saying.

The new DPJ index dropped the party’s past promise to halt use of Japanese naval fuel tankers to supply US warships operating in the Indian Ocean and reversed its opposition to dispatching destroyers to guard against pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Referring to Japan’s dispute with Russia over ownership of four northern islands, the index introduced apparent new flexibility by excluding a previous demand that they should be returned “as a group”.

The implications of such revisions remain difficult to gauge as the index gave few details, and there continue to be wide differences on policy issues within the DPJ, an often fractious union of LDP defectors and former socialists. And while such U-turns are likely to please Washington and centrist Japanese voters, they open the DPJ to charges of inconsistency.

The belated acceptance of the Indian Ocean refuelling mission, which the DPJ had fiercely opposed in parliament, merely demonstrated that its previous stance had been “out of touch with reality”, said Kazuo Kitagawa, secretary-general of the LDP’s junior coalition partner New Komeito.

In its new policy index, the DPJ also said the party would work to seal free trade agreements with the US and Europe, but gave no details. Past efforts to seal such agreements have been doomed by Japan’s insistence on protecting its agricultural sector.

Underscoring expectations that a DPJ election victory could boost Japanese consumption, the party restated its commitment to scrap highway tolls, cut petrol tax and pay monthly allowances to parents of Y26,000 ($275, £165, €190) per child.

[22:43:41 Thursday July 23, 2009 in Europe/London converts to 07:43:41 Friday July 24, 2009 in Pacific/Guam]