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2 Japan's dovish defense
minister By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
has a reputation as a hawk. So why did he appoint
a dove from Nagasaki, a city that still nurses
grievances from the 1945 atomic bombing, as his
defense minister? And why does he treat his
colleague's repeated jibes against the US with
only mild rebukes?
Fumio Kyuma, a
66-year-old veteran lawmaker from the premier's
ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said
recently the United States should "stop being so
bossy" about the issue of realigning US bases on
Japanese soil, only three days after describing
the
US-led war in Iraq as a
"mistake".
These embarrassing remarks by
Kyuma have dealt yet another blow to Abe, who has
seen his public support slip precipitously since
succeeding Junichiro Koizumi last September. It
has been especially pronounced in recent weeks
amid a spate of political funds-related scandals
involving some of his cabinet ministers, one of
whom resigned.
But it is the recent
outbreak of foot-in-mouth disease in his cabinet
that has Abe reeling. Health Minister Hakuo
Yanagisawa made an even bigger gaffe by calling
women "birth-giving machines", resulting in calls
that he resign. Abe instructed all his cabinet
ministers on Tuesday to be careful about their
remarks.
But at least Yanagisawa
apologized profusely and promised to keep his
mouth shut in the future. Kyuma has been much more
grudging in his reaction to criticism, and he has
a longer record of saying similar things about
Japan's ally and protector, the United States.
Kyuma's case apparently was not just a slip of the
tongue. He was speaking his mind. And he does not
seem to be repentant at all in his heart about
what he said.
Defense chief Kyuma's
anti-US remarks also come at an awkward time for
both Tokyo and Washington, which are strengthening
security cooperation, including the building of a
missile defense system at an accelerated pace amid
increased tensions in East Asia after North
Korea's missile and nuclear tests last year.
There are growing concerns in both Tokyo
and Washington about possible negative impact of
the fuss over Kyuma's remarks on the bilateral
security alliance, including the possibility that
the first "two plus two" meeting of Japanese and
US foreign secretaries and defense chiefs since
the Abe administration was inaugurated might be
further delayed. The meeting was originally
expected in January.
One anti-US remark
after another On January 24, just about
two weeks after his defense portfolio was
officially upgraded from an "agency" to a
ministry, Kyuma said he believed it was a
"mistake" that US President George W Bush decided
to go ahead with the war in Iraq in March 2003 on
the assumption, which later turned out to be
wrong, that the country had weapons of mass
destruction such as nuclear weapons.
Kyuma's comment came only hours after Bush
implored Congress in his annual State of the Union
address to back his unpopular plan to send an
extra 21,000 US troops to Iraq, saying it
represents the best chance in a war the US must
not lose.
This was not the first time
Kyuma had spoken out against the US-led war in
Iraq. In December, the defense chief said that
then-prime minister Koizumi's expression of
Japan's outright support for the invasion of Iraq
"was not made officially" but were just personal
comments Koizumi made to the media.
Kyuma
retracted his remarks the following day. But Kyuma
expressed his personal view against the
government's support of the Iraq war, saying, "I
felt at that time that it was premature and I
personally still feel so now. I believe there
should have been a better alternative." On March
20, 2003, after the US invasion of Iraq, Koizumi
said he "understands and supports the use of
force", and his statement was approved by his
cabinet as the government's official view.
When he heard about Kyuma's "mistake"
remarks, Abe initially tried to take them in
stride. He said simply that that the words did not
represent the government's position. "I think Mr
Kyuma expressed his own thoughts. The cabinet has
a consistent view on the evaluation of the war in
Iraq and its reconstruction assistance," Abe said.
But Abe apparently had second thoughts
soon afterward about the seriousness of the gaffe.
He directed Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa
Shiozaki, a close aide, to meet with Kyuma on last
Friday, before the day's regular cabinet meeting,
and warn him over his "mistake" remarks. "Please
be careful [about what you say] as it may send a
wrong message to the United States," Shiozaki was
quoted as telling Kyuma.
Kyuma said later
in the day that he would be more careful with his
comments. "If they were taken [as criticism], I
think I should be more careful about how I say
things," Kyuma told a press conference. "Even if
they were my thoughts, I think perhaps it might be
better not to say them," Kyuma said, adding, "I
decided not to talk about the past anymore."
But while those words were still fresh
from his mouth, Kyuma criticized the US again -
this time over its unwillingness to accept changes
in the plan for the relocation of the US Marine
Corps's Futenma Air Station on Okinawa, from
Ginowan City in the south to Nago City in the
north.
While noting that governors have
the authority to approve the reclamation necessary
for the relocation, Kyuma said in a speech on
Saturday, "The United States doesn't understand
that in Japan there are things that we can't do if
the governors don't say 'okay'.
"The
United States doesn't understand [the importance
of] spadework. We're in the process of telling the
United States to stop being so bossy and let us do
what we have to do."
Alarmed, Abe met with
Kyuma, Shiozaki and Foreign Minister Taro Aso on
Tuesday after the day's regular cabinet meeting to
confirm the basic government policy of making
efforts to persuade local governments to accept
the current relocation plan agreed between Tokyo
and Washington. When Abe instructed the ministers
to follow the basic government policy, Kyuma was
quoted as replying, "That's right." But at a press
conference only minutes later, Kyuma said again
that the current relocation plan "may be revised".
Concerns in Tokyo, Washington To be sure, there are many people around the
world, even in the US, who would nod in agreement
if they heard Kyuma's critical comments on the
Iraq war. But that a minister in charge of the
bilateral security alliance would speak out
against the Bush administration over its most
vexing issue is something that Washington could
not let pass.
James Zumwalt, director of
the Office of Japanese Affairs at the State
Department, protested to the Japanese Embassy
in
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