Japan's China Policy in Domestic Power Transition and Alliance Politics

Abstract

The main objectives of this article are to examine the evolution of Japan's China policy in a power shift to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and to provide theoretical explanations for the evolution. The DPJ government showed accommodating postures toward China, and such postures derived from the DPJ leaders’ particular preferences and perceptions as well as the party's aspiration for legitimating its power formation against the previous government. At the same time, political and security linkages with Washington constituted the baseline for Japan's evolving diplomatic intercourses with China. Neoclassical realism, which integrates domestic political factors with systemic political configurations, can provide valuable insights for explaining major aspects in the evolution of Japan's China policy.

Keywords:

• Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)
• East China Sea
• neoclassical realism
• Sino-Japanese Relations

Notes

1. The EAEC was to comprise the ASEAN countries of Japan, South Korea, and China, excluding Australia and New Zealand, as well as the United States.

2. Hidetaka Yoshimatsu, “ASEAN Plus Three: Political Leadership, Informality, and Regional Integration in East Asia,” European Journal of East Asian Studies 4, no. 2 (2005): 229.

3. Xuanli Liao, “The Petroleum Factor in Sino-Japanese Relations: Beyond Energy Cooperation,” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 7, no. 1 (2007): 23–46; Yinan He, “Ripe for Cooperation or Rivalry? Commerce, Realpolitik, and War Memory in Contemporary Sino-Japanese Relations,” Asian Security 2, no. 2 (2008): 162–97; Leszenk Buszynski, “Sino-Japanese Relations: Interdependence, Rivalry and Regional Security,” Contemporary Southeast Asia 31, no. 1 (2009): 143–71; and Paul Smith, “China-Japan Relations and the Future Geopolitics of East Asia,” Asian Affairs: An American Review 35, no. 4 (2009): 230–56.

4. Liao, “The Petroleum Factor in Sino-Japanese Relations,”.

5. He, “Ripe for Cooperation or Rivalry?”.

6. Gideon Rose, “Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Policy”, World Politics 51, no. 1 (1998): 146.

7. Liu Feng and Zhang Ruizhuang, “The Typologies of Realism,” Chinese Journal of International Politics 1, no. 1 (2006): 117–8.

8. Randall L. Schweller, “The Progressiveness of Neoclassical Realism,” in Progress in International Relations Theory: Appraising the Field, ed. Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003): 331.

9. Jennifer Sterling-Folker, “Realist Environment, Liberal Process, and Domestic-Level Variables,” International Studies Quarterly 41, no. 1 (1997): 19.

10. Jeffrey W. Legro and Andrew Moravcsik, “Is Anybody Still a Realist?” International Security 24, no. 2 (1999): 28.

11. Feng and Zhang, “The Typologies of Realism,” 114.

12. Jeffrey W. Taliaferro, Steven E. Lobell, and Norrin M. Ripsman, “Introduction: Neoclassical Realism, the State, and Foreign Policy,” in Neoclassical Realism, the State, and Foreign Policy, ed. Steven E. Lobell, Norrin M. Ripsman, Jeffrey W. Taliaferro (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009): 22.

13. G. John Ikenberry, David A. Lake, and Michael Mastanduno, “Introduction: Approaches to Explaining American Foreign Economic Policy,” International Organization 42, no. 1 (1988): 10.

14. Rose, “Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Policy,” 147.

15. Randall L. Schweller, Unanswered Threats: Political Constraints on the Balance of Power (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006): 49–50.

16. Christopher W. Hughes, “Japan's Policy towards China: Domestic Structural Change, Globalization, History and Nationalism,” in China, Japan, and Regional Leadership in East Asia, ed. Christopher M. Dent (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2008): 37.

17. The bilateral trade expanded from US$89.2 billion in 2001 to US$211.3 billion in 2006.

18. Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine six times (August 2001, April 2002, January 2003, January 2004, October 2005, and August 2006) during his prime ministership.

19. The value-oriented diplomacy implies placing emphasis on the “universal values” such as democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law, and the market economy’ in advancing Japan's diplomatic endeavors.

20. Yul Sohn, “Japan's New Regionalism: China Shock, Values, and the East Asian Community,” Asian Survey 50, no. 3 (2010): 497–519.

21. H. Richard Friman et al., “Immovable object? Japan's security policy in East Asia”, in Beyond Japan: The Dynamics of East Asian Regionalism, ed. Peter J. Katzenstein and Takashi Shiraishi (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2006): 89.

22. “Security Consultative Committee Document, U.S.-Japan Alliance: Transformation and Realignment for the Future”, October 29, 2005, http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/security/scc/doc0510.html (accessed September 14, 2010).

23. Abe Shinzo, Utsukushii Kuni e [Towards a beautiful nation] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 2006): 160.

24. Motoshi Suzuki, “The Politics of Coordination and Miscoordination in the Post-Cold War United States-Japan Alliance: From a Japanese Perspective,” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 10, no. 3 (2010): 506–7.

25. “On the ‘Arc of Freedom and Prosperity,’ An Address by H.E. Mr. Taro Aso, Minister for Foreign Affairs on the Occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Founding of the Japan Forum on International Relations, Inc,” http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/pillar/address0703.html (accessed September 20, 2010).

26. Takashi Hoshiyama, “‘Kachi no gaiko’ wa nihon no shin sogo anzen hosho senryaku” [Value-oriented diplomacy as Japan's new comprehensive security strategy], IIPS Policy Paper, 331J (2007): 10.

27. Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Minshuto Seiken Seisaku, Manifesto (Tokyo: Minshuto Honbu, 2009): 22–23, http://www.dpj.or.jp/special/manifesto2009/ (accessed December 3, 2009).

28. Nihon Keizai Shimbun, October 10, 2009.

29. Daniel Sneider, “The New Asianism: Japanese Foreign Policy under the Democratic Party of Japan,” Asia Policy 12 (July, 2011): 111–2.

30. Nihon Keizai Shimbun, December 15, 2009.

31. The agreement contained joint development in the northern part of the East China Sea and the participation of Japanese legal persons in the development of Chunxiao (Japanese name: Shirakaba) oil and gas field.

32. Japanese Ministry of Defense, Defense of Japan 2011 (Tokyo: Gyosei, 2011): 347–48.

33. Address by Yukio Hatoyama, “Japan's New Commitment to Asia: Toward the Realization of an East Asian Community,” http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/hatoyama/statement/200911/15singapore_e.html (accessed January 23, 2010).

34. Yukio Hatoyama, “Watashi no seiji tetsugaku: Sofu, ichiro ni mananda ‘yuai’ to iu tatakai no hatajirushi” [My political philosophy: Fraternity, a banner of fight learned from my grandfather, Ichiro], Voice (September, 2009): 132–41. A shorter version of this article was published in the New York Times. See Yukio Hatoyama, “A New Path for Japan,” New York Times, August 27, 2009.

35. For the Issue Papers, see http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/asia/e_asia/index.html (accessed May 19, 2007).

36. Ichiro Hatoyama came across this philosophy by translating Kalergi's book The Totalitarian State against Man.

37. Hatoyama, “Watashi no seiji tetsugaku: Sofu, ichiro ni mananda ‘yuai’ to iu tatakai no hatjirushi”: 134.

38. Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), “Our Basic Philosophy: Building a Free and Secure Society,” April, 1998,. http://www.dpj.or.jp/english/about_us/philosophy.html (accessed December 12, 2009).

39. Shukan Asahi Weekly Magaginze, September 7, 2010, http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201009060235.html (accessed November 20, 2010).

40. “Courtesy Call on Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates,” http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/usa/visit/gates_0910/s_hk.html (accessed November 23, 2010).

41. Jiji Press, October 7, 2009.

42. Leif-Eric Easley, Tetsuo Kotani, and Aki Mori, “Electing a New Japanese Security Policy? Examining Foreign Policy Visions within the Democratic Party of Japan,” Asia Policy 9 (January, 2010): 52.

43. DPJ, Minshuto Seiken Seisaku, Manifesto, 22.

44. Under the agreement, the flight operations of helicopter facility would be moved to coastal areas of Henoko in Nago city, and 8,000 Marines would be relocated from Okinawa to Guam.

45. Easley, Kotani, and Mori, “Electing a New Japanese Security Policy?” 54–55.

46. The Koizumi cabinet pushed forward structural reform programs such as the postal privatization, the healthcare system reforms, and the privatization of the highway public corporations (Yu Uchiyama, Koizumi and Japanese Politics: Reform Strategies and Leadership Style (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010)).

47. Hatoyama, “Watashi no seiji tetsugaku: Sofu, ichiro ni mananda ‘yuai’ to iu tatakai no hatajirushi”: 136.

48. Nihon Kisha Kurabu ed., Minshuto Daihyo Koho Toronkai [Policy debates among candidates for DPJ presidency] (Tokyo: Nihon Kisha Kurabu, 2009): 16.

49. Sneider, “The New Asianism,” 121.

50. Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), “DPJ's Policy Platform for Government; Manifesto 2010” (June, 2010), http://www.dpj.or.jp/english/manifesto/manifesto.html (accessed February 6, 2011).

51. Ibid.

52. “Agenda for Strengthening Japan-US Alliance - Achieving World Peace and Happiness through Prosperity,” Keynote Speech at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Conference, October 25, 2005, http://www.dpj.or.jp/english/news/051029/04.html (accessed February 12, 2011).

53. “The National Image and Foreign Policy Vision Aimed for by the DPJ,” Speech on December 8, 2005, at CSIS, Washington, DC., http://www.dpj.or.jp/english/news/051215/01.html (accessed February 9, 2011).

54. “Press Conference by Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism,” http://www.mlit.go.jp/report/interview/daijin100910.html (accessed January 14, 2011).

55. “Press Conference by Foreign Minister,” http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/kaiken/gaisho/g_1009.html#5-B (accessed January 13, 2011).

56. People's Daily, September 16, 2010.

57. People's Daily, September 22, 2010.

58. Rare earths are a group of 17 elements consisting of Scandium, Neodymium, Lanthanum, Cerium, and so on. The rare earths are used for many high-technology products, such as hybrid cars, mobile phones, and solar cells. China accounted for 97% of all mining of rare earths in the world and completely dominated the supply of rare earths. In 2009, Japan was reliant on China for more than 90% of its imports of rare earths.

59. Later, Kenichi Matsumoto, who served as a special advisor to the Kan cabinet, revealed a view that the release of the boat skipper resulted from intensive consultations among senior political leaders, and Prime Minister Kan finally decided on the release (Sankei Shimbun, September 26, 2011).

60. Despite the DPJ's efforts, the Japanese people gave critical assessments on the settlement of the incident. According to public opinion polls, 72% of those surveyed answered that the release of the boat skipper was “not appropriate” against 19% for “appropriate.” The cabinet approval rating dropped more than 10 points to 53% after the incident, largely due to the government's awkward reactions to the incident (Yomiuri Shimbun, October 4, 2010).

61. DPJ, Minshuto Seiken Seisaku, Manifesto.

62. Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics (London: Macmillan, 1997), 170–72.

63. Japanese Ministry of Defense, Defense of Japan 2011, 85–86.

64. “Remarks to the Press, Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs, 23 September 2010.” http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147836.htm (accessed March 12, 2011).

65. Kyodo News, September 24, 2010. Article V stipulates that the US “would act to meet the common danger” in the event of an armed attack “in the territories under the administration of Japan.”

66. Japan Times, September 25, 2010.

67. “National Defense Program Guidelines for FY 2011 and Beyond,”.www.mofa.go.jp/policy/security/pdfs/h23_ndpg_en.pdf (accessed March 20, 2011).

68. “Foreign Policy Speech By H.E. Mr. Seiji Maehara, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies ‘Opening a New Horizon in the Asia Pacific,” January 6, 2011, http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/juk_1101/speech1101.html (accessed April 10, 2011).