Statement
of
Alexander
A. Arvizu
Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State
Bureau
of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Submitted
to the
House
Foreign Affairs Committee
Subcommittee
on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global
Environment
June 12, 2008
U.S.-Japan Relations: Partnership and
Progress
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Manzullo, and Members of
the Subcommittee, it is a privilege to appear before you today. In less than one month, Japan will host the G8 Summit at Lake Toya on
its northern island
of Hokkaido. The Summit
provides an excellent opportunity for Japan to showcase its growing
regional and global leadership role, as well as an opportunity to strengthen the
U.S.-Japanese partnership on a wide range of key issues.
The U.S.
and Japan
will celebrate the 50th anniversary of our Treaty of Mutual
Cooperation and Security in 2010. This
historic milestone is not just an occasion to reflect on the successes of the
past six decades, but an opportunity to look forward toward future challenges
and possibilities. Our Alliance with
Japan has not only enhanced our own security and that of the region; it has
blossomed into a political and economic partnership based on shared values and
shared vision that provides substantial benefits to both countries and to
people throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Japan is one of our most important trading partners and a staunch and
reliable ally in fora ranging from the United Nations to the Six-Party
Talks. Men and women from Japan’s Self-Defense Forces support U.S. and
coalition partners in Iraqi reconstruction and humanitarian assistance
operations and Operation Enduring Freedom.
We work together on important issues throughout Asia
such as increasing regional economic integration, promoting democracy and human
rights and coordinating humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Japan is also becoming a more
active partner in global affairs, and our bilateral and multilateral
cooperation transcends the Asia-Pacific region to include African development,
promoting peace in the Middle-East and combating climate change.
Whatever challenges the next 50 years
beyond 2010 may bring, I am confident our relationship with Japan will
deepen and evolve so that it will contribute to peace, prosperity and security
for the region and beyond.
Japanese Domestic Politics
Mr.
Chairman, a brief look at the current domestic political situation in Japan may help
provide context for a broader discussion of U.S.-Japan security alliance issues
and political and economic issues.
Prime
Minister Yasuo Fukuda assumed office in September of 2007, after the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost its majority in the Upper House in the July
2007 elections. Due to the electoral
cycle, Japan
may face a few years of legislative uncertainty, which will certainly affect
the speed of government decision making.
This is the first time since before the Second World War that Japan has been
governed by a divided Diet; and the Fukuda Cabinet, the LDP, and the main
opposition party – the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) – are
navigating uncharted waters. As the
largest party in the Upper House of the Diet, the DPJ now has the power to
greatly hinder legislation. While the
LDP can technically override the Upper House and enact legislation due to their
supra-majority in the Lower House, as a practical matter there are severe
constraints on the Fukuda cabinet’s ability to employ this tactic. This is especially true on issues with a high
public profile, deemed to require substantial debate and compromise before
passage into law.
However,
the DPJ would like to demonstrate to the Japanese people that it can govern
effectively. Thus, there is room for
compromise and incentive to do so.
Progress on a range of issues of both domestic and international
importance is possible, but the rationale for action is occasionally less clear
than it has been in the past.
U.S.-Japan Security Alliance
The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and
Security was signed between the United States and Japan in 1960 during a very
different era—at the height of the Cold War—and was marked by uncertainty in
the United States over the treaty’s real strategic value and by protests and
demonstrations in Japan over the very concept of entering into a formal
alliance with a former adversary. The
strategic relationship has evolved over the years into the linchpin of American
security policy in the Pacific and a core element of Japan’s national security policy. Japan’s
provision of bases allows the United States
to project military power into this critical region and contribute to the
defense of Japan. It also provides a platform for the forward
deployment of U.S. forces
that enhances our ability to meet other regional responsibilities and
objectives that the U.S. and
Japan
share such as the stability of the Korean peninsula and maritime security in
the region’s critical sea lanes. Opinion
polls in Japan
consistently show strong support for our continued presence, and the Government
of Japan makes significant contributions to the basing of our forces. A Special Measures Agreement concluded this
past December will provide approximately $4 billion through 2010 for the basing
of U.S. Forces in Japan (USFJ).
There are more than 48,000 American
military personnel deployed in Japan,
including our only forward deployed carrier strike group, the 5th
Air Force, and the III Marine Expeditionary Force. This August, the USS George Washington is scheduled to deploy to Japan, the first American nuclear-powered aircraft
carrier to be forward deployed outside of the United States. The George
Washington’s deployment is just one element of a broader effort to
transform and realign American forces in Japan.
Through the Defense Policy Review
Initiative (DPRI), the United States
and Japan made a landmark
alliance commitment under the 2006 U.S.-Japan Realignment Roadmap to implement
a coherent package of force posture realignments that will have far-reaching
benefits for the Alliance. These changes will help strengthen the
flexibility and deterrent capability of U.S.
forces while creating the conditions for a more sustainable U.S. military
presence in the region. The
transformation includes the relocation of approximately 8,000 Marines from
Okinawa to Guam, force posture relocations and land returns on Okinawa, and
other realignments and combined capability changes on mainland Japan (e.g.,
increased interoperability, as well as collaboration on ballistic missile
defense). This realignment will
strengthen both countries’ ability to meet current responsibilities and create
an Alliance that is more flexible, capable, and better able to work together to
address common security concerns, whether in the region or globally.
The U.S.-Japan Economic Relationship
Mr.
Chairman, the United States
and Japan
are the world’s largest economies, together generating over a third of global
output. We owe much of our prosperity to
our bilateral economic relationship. Japan and the United
States exchange the equivalent of $760 million in goods
and services every day; Japanese companies in the United
States employed 613,500 American workers in 2005; and U.S. firms
provided jobs for over 242,000 Japanese workers. Our economic relationship
is more cooperative and less confrontational than in the past. We recognize that to sustain productive,
growing domestic economies and maintain a strong international system
based on free markets, opportunity, and effective and responsible economic
governance, we need to work together. We
are global leaders, and we are finding more and more that our engagement is
global in scope as we tackle issues like energy security and climate change;
protect intellectual property rights; deepen and strengthen the Asia-Pacific
economic community; and address critical development needs in Iraq, Afghanistan,
Africa and elsewhere. To alleviate the burden of sharply higher
food prices on the world’s poor, in May the United States announced substantial
new food aid. We also agreed that Japan could
release to countries in need a portion of the rice imported under WTO Uruguay Round
commitments on an exceptional basis this year.
We believe this will help calm the international rice market, and we
continue to discuss the causes of these high food prices.
As
important as our global economic relationship has become, we also need to
continue our efforts to expand trade and investment between us. Our trade with Japan
is not growing at the same rate as our trade with other countries in the region,
and we continue to urge Japan
to make meaningful market access commitments in the Doha Development Round
negotiations. We are working hard to
reopen the Japanese market to U.S.
beef, consistent with the standards of the World Organization for Animal Health. In its policies and public statements, Japan should
create and maintain a climate that welcomes foreign investment. We are also in close touch with the Japanese
Government as the ten-year process to privatize Japan Post proceeds. The first steps began last October, opening
up new opportunities for highly competitive American firms to serve Japanese
consumers in the banking, insurance, and express delivery sectors. We are also pleased with our growing efforts
with Japan
to establish strong trade security protections, which will be essential to the
movement of goods.
Global Partnership Issues
The
influence of the U.S.-Japan partnership is increasingly felt around the
world. We appreciate Japan’s strong support for the war on terror,
particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are both committed to helping build a
democratic, pluralistic, and unified Iraq. The successful deployment of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to southern Iraq was a historic milestone for U.S.-Japan
cooperation, and the Coalition in Iraq
appreciates Japan’s
continuing contribution of transport aircraft.
We deeply value Japan’s
leading role as a provider of financial and humanitarian assistance to the
Iraqi government and people. Japan also plays an important role in rebuilding
Afghanistan
through its generous reconstruction and humanitarian assistance, including a
commitment to rebuild the southern portion of the Kabul-Kandahar-Herat
road. The United
States is grateful for Japan’s
ongoing refueling mission in the Indian Ocean
in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
These contributions have demonstrated that Japan
has much to offer the world in the security arena, and the world has shown that
it welcomes continued increases in Japan’s international security
roles.
Our
cooperation extends beyond security. We
stand together at the forefront of efforts to help countries in the wake of
devastating natural disasters, including the Indian Ocean tsunami in December
2004, the Pakistan
earthquake in October 2005, the Central Java earthquake in 2006, and mostly
recently, the cyclone in Burma
and earthquake in western China. In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, Japan joined
the United States in offering assistance and in advocating for greater access
for international aid experts to conduct independent assessments and to help
assistance reach those in need as quickly and effectively as possible. Japan has provided $10 million in
humanitarian assistance, and joined the international community in calling for
the Burmese authorities to be fully transparent and accountable in their
management of relief efforts. Japan’s material assistance to China in the wake of the Sichuan earthquake has so far totaled $12
million. In addition, close to 100 Japanese
rescue workers and medical specialists have been dispatched.
We
are also working together with Japan
and others to develop a new regional initiative to promote good governance,
democratic values and human rights in the Asia Pacific region. Japan has been a key partner in
these regional efforts to date and we expect their leadership to grow in this
area.
Japan’s G8 Priorities
Mr. Chairman, Japan’s G8 Presidency
presents an opportunity to work together to achieve our common goals. Japan
is focusing on four key themes: environment and climate change, development and
Africa, the world economy, and political
issues including nonproliferation. We
are working with the government of Japan
to enhance G8 accountability for follow-through on past commitments on Africa, health, anticorruption, and other areas. Japan will also host, on July 9, a
Major Economies Leaders’ meeting to discuss energy security and climate change.
Thank
you very much. I look forward to your
questions.