Japan needs to set long-term goals to normalise its relations with all its neighbours and at times move faster on regional cooperation if wants to tap Asia’s growing economic momentum, says Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
“Both Japan and Asean are significant players in their own right. If you maintain good relations with both sides (the United States and China) it would be of great help in maintaining stability in the region,” Mr Lee said last Thursday at the Future of Asia conference in Tokyo, co-sponsored by the Bangkok Post.
“The biggest factor in Asia’s success is China’s continuing progress. China is now the top trading partner of many Asian countries, including Japan. China has integrated remarkably well into the international system, given its size and impact.”
Mr Lee addressed the delicate subject of Japan’s strained relations with China and South Korea, where bitterness over World War II atrocities remains. The visits last month by several cabinet ministers to the Yasukuni shrine, where some convicted war criminals are buried, reopened old wounds, as did racist comments by politicians from a fringe nationalist party.
When mass graves from World War II were found in Singapore, he said, the subsequent apology and help from the Japanese government in the 1960s were a positive step.
“We in Singapore have moved on and that chapter between Singapore and Japan is closed,” he said, while stressing that Japan may need to think of similar steps with other countries.
“I am therefore glad that the Abe government has backed Murayama’s apology,” he said, referring to the statement issued in 1995 by then-premier Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and endorsed by the Diet.
“All parties should put the history of World War II behind them, move forward and forge relationships of mutual benefit and trust.”
Mr Lee acknowledged that dramatic moves may be difficult at the moment because Japan’s relations with China are rocky, but it is important to take a longer-term perspective and work toward stabilising them.
Delegates listen to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong deliver the opening address at the 'Future of Asia' conference in Tokyo.
In a candid speech to more than 400 senior executives and government officials from across Asia, Mr Lee said China was a power that was looking to live at peace with the rest of the region.
Various global powers in the past have used power to assert dominance, he said, but Chin has demonstrated that it does not want to follow that path.
It was therefore up to the Japanese people to calculate what benefits their country might gain from an escalation of any dispute with China, he added.
Any grouping formed of countries opposed to China would be a mistake, he said, calling for the territorial disputes in the region to be managed peacefully, in accordance with international law.
Territory in the South China Sea is claimed by China, Taiwan and some Asean countries, while Tokyo and Beijing have been sparring over the East China Sea islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
Asean, said Mr Lee, could be a player in this field as the region is neutral and wants to maintain friendly relations with all powers.
“For Asean we are not a single country, but a regional cooperation [forum] and we play a significant role in the broader framework of regional cooperation,” he said.
Apart from devising a strategy for its territorial dispute with China, Mr Lee said Japan needed to look beyond domestic political games and expedite progress in some other areas.
Citing the example of the Asean-Japan free trade agreement, he said that although negotiations started at around the same time as those with China 13 years ago, China’s FTA with Asean is fully functional and covers trade, services and investment. The Japan pact covers only trade because domestic politics and frequent changes in government have stalled further talks.
“Japan has not been able to overcome its domestic politics,” he said.
Commenting on the Asean Economic Community, Mr Lee said work was progressing well on all fronts and at least the overall framework would be ready by 2015.
He said that countries in Asean needed to work on the issue of the mobility of professionals and also on open skies in aviation, as these two developments would contribute to a greater degree of integration of the region.