Japan's foreign policy likely to change if DPJ wins: scholar

by Richard Smart

TOKYO, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- As Japan prepares for an election on Aug. 30, it seems that nothing but a miracle will be able to keep the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in power as a tide of change looks likely to sweep the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) into governance.

If the DPJ does win the election, it is likely, argued Jeff Kingston, a professor of Asian studies at Temple University, that there will be changes in Japan's foreign policy and international relations, particularly the nation's relationship with the United States.

"I don't think that the DPJ will do anything to inflict irreparable harm on the bilateral alliance with the United States," said Kingston in an interview with Xinhua.

"I think the Obama administration is ready to update the relationship and make it somewhat more equal. However, in this new multipolar world the United States expects more of its allies, so in the case of Japan, Washington will expect not soldiers, but engineers, educators and doctors, things like that, to contribute to the rebuilding process in the Middle East," Kingston said.

The DPJ, however, seems more likely than the LDP to generate tension with the United States. In particular, the DPJ "will expose the secret agreement that allows the U.S. to routinely violate the three non-nuclear principles."

Japan's three non-nuclear principles are not possessing, producing or permitting the bringing-in of nuclear weapons on its soil. However, over recent years, documents from the United States and statements by former government ministers have pointed to the existence of a pact that allowed the United States military to carry nuclear weapons in Japanese waters. Revealing the documents is unlikely to have disastrous consequences, but it will mark a change in the way Japan deals with its ally.