The Asahi Shimbun's English edition printed a story today suggesting that US Secretary of State Rice told Japanese officials last month that resolving the abductions issue is not a precondition for the removal of North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.In previous posts such as this one, I suggested that Japan seems …
Tag: Abe Washington visit
Was Abe’s trip a success?
That's the argument made by an editorial in the Japan Times and Jun Okumura at GlobalTalk 21. The Yomiuri, meanwhile, was cautiously optimistic, suggesting that while there were positive results from the Bush-Abe summit, the future is unclear, and there is a greater need for better bilateral communication (a point I've stressed on a number …
Abe in Washington, day two
Bush and Abe have eaten their burgers, they've talked, and they've had a press conference that shows how little will actually come out of their meeting.The press coverage (FT; Washington Post) focuses on statements that hint at a firming up of the US position in the Six-Party talks -- "Our partners in the six-party talks …
Abe in Washington, day one
Apropos of US Asia policy over the past several years, Prime Minister Abe's arrival in Washington was overshadowed by the Senate's passage of a war spending bill that includes a withdrawal plan -- entirely consistent with the US government's "Iraq, Iraq, Iraq" foreign policy.While discussions between Bush and Abe over cheeseburgers and apple pie at …
Japan’s long road to normalization
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff early in the Bush administration, has an op-ed on the occasion of Abe's visit that title of which says it all: "Asia's Overlooked Great Power." (Hat tip: Project Syndicate)Most of Haass' essay is innocuous, typical proposals about …
Mr. Abe goes to Washington
Abe is set to begin his visit to Washington, which means that there is a surge of media coverage repeating the same questions that I have been asking at this blog for the past six months. Domestically, does Abe represent a return to the pre-Koizumi style of LDP governance? Internationally, is Abe truly committed to …
The offensive continues
Yesterday I wrote that the Abe Cabinet launched an "offensive" on the question of collective self-defense.It seems that that offensive continued today, with Prime Minister Abe meeting with Richard Armitage, former deputy secretary of state, co-chair of the groups that produced the two reports on the US-Japan alliance that bear his name (alongside Joseph Nye), …
Collective self-defense offensive
In the past day, the Abe Cabinet has been on the offensive on the question of the review of the prohibition on the right of collective self-defense.Yesterday, Prime Minister Abe said at a press conference, "As the era changes, I want to have a debate about how the constitution should be interpreted."At the Diet, controversial …
Abe’s first six months
The FT's David Pilling provides a solid summary of Abe Shinzo's first six months in the Kantei.Being a summary, there is, of course, little new in this article, but it serves as a good reminder of the problems with the Abe Cabinet -- and of Abe's tendencies as a leader.I found this paragraph, though, particularly …
Abe interviewed in the Washington Post
In advance of Abe's impending visit to Washington, DC, the Washington Post has published an interview of Abe by Lally Weymouth, journalist and daughter of the late Katherine Graham. It is unclear in which language the interview was conducted or whether Abe was speaking through an interpreter.But regardless of the language, Abe once again displays …
Tobias S. Harris 