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Yes, high
voter turnout and absentee ballots signal a shift in public attitudes in Japan.
Koizumi has seized the reins, with clever theatrics or samurai precision. Despite the political sumo wrestling, I
believe that the Japanese are anxious to regain integrity, if not prominence. They
suffered great defeat and rebounded, a lesson we in America should be
observing. In addition to
the domestic agenda and consolidating a power shift, there are other prominent
issues at play. Japan will push to
lower its UN dues since it apparently will not win a Security Council seat http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20050911TDY01003.htm Japan’s rivalry with
China stirs the crowded China Sea In a muscular display of its rising
military and economic might, China deployed a fleet of five warships on Friday near a gas field in the
East China Sea, a
potentially resource-rich area that is disputed by China and Japan. The ships,
including a guided-missile destroyer, were spotted by a Japanese military
patrol plane near the Chunxiao gas field, according to the Maritime Self-Defense Forces.
It is believed to be the first time that Chinese warships have been seen in
that area. Although the
fleet's mission was unclear, its timing suggested that it was no coincidence.
The warships appeared two days before a general election in Japan, whose
results could greatly influence relations between Asia's two great powers, and
weeks before China is scheduled to start producing gas in the area, against
strong Japanese protests. In Japan, where the
12-day election campaign was exclusively focused on domestic issues and on what
the media described as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's theatrical politics,
the warships were a sudden reminder of its most pressing outside challenge:
China. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/international/asia/11taiwan.html |
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