President Obama in Japan to maintain healthy foreign relations
President Obama’s address to Japanese onlookers at Suntory Hall last Friday initially appeared to be a courteous attempt to continue a seemingly healthy relationship that has existed between the U.S. and Japan for nearly six decades. “We must remember that there is a partnership here,” Obama reminded onlookers, neglecting to mention that partnership is currently in a state of deterioration, and has been since the Democratic Party of Japan defeating the Liberal Democratic Party in the election last August. The DJP continues to insist that Obama administration “does not take them seriously,” and as a result, diplomatic relations between Washington and Tokyo have been strained.
Despite Obama’s position on U.S. troop deployment in the region, which he insists illustrates the U.S. dedication to pacific safety, it is clear to Japan that this a direct response to Chinese military that is rapidly expanding. Obama’s visit came on the heels of Japan’s recent with drawl from an eight-year mission in which Japanese servicemen played a key role in refueling warships supporting U.S. led coalition forces in Afghanistan. In addition, Japan is considering re-opening negotiations on what Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates called “$26 billion base realignment plan,” an arrangement that would relocate 8,000 marines (currently stationed with the over 40,000 military personnel stationed on Japanese soil) to Guam in a preemptive attempt to counter China’s naval forces and improve it missile defense systems in the region.
Without continued partnership between the two nations “there can be no solution to our energy security,” Obama concluded. It is apparent that DJP administration is privy to the U.S.’s unyielding efforts to maintain regional dominance in the Middle East, ensuring access to its abundant supply or crude oil. The U.S.’s expanding sphere of influence is beginning to re-shape the Western power’s relationship with its invaluable Asiatic trading partners. Recent developments in Washington’s relationship with a new administration in Tokyo that have unfolded suggest that the Japan is refusing to comply with the U.S.’s imperial strategy that aims to strong arm Beijing into adhering to a market system that would benefit the West.
According to the Obama administration, U.S. involvement in organizations such as Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, is “key to advancing security and prosperity.”—reversing the U.S.’s standard “disengagement” approach to cooperating with multi-lateral organizations.
The matter of security seems to be self explanatory—direct involvement with Asian nations further advances the U.S.’s regional influence—increased troop deployment to pro-Western nations that surround China will allow the U.S. to continue pressing Beijing on economic reforms while simultaneously monitoring any military movements made by China. Advancing prosperity is an issue that Obama referenced in a statement reminding Asian nations that the U.S. has a stake in the future of a region where economic developments directly affect the lives of Americans. “This is where we engage in much of our commerce and buy many of our goods, and where we can export more of our own products and create jobs back home in the process,” Obama stressed.
The president’s half-hour oration also addressed “mistakes of the past,” what Obama referred to as the “imbalance of American consumerism and Asian reliance on the U.S. as an export market.” Obama urged Beijing to open its markets, allowing for the expansion of free trade. It is worth noting that despite his reputation for foreign diplomacy, Obama diplomatic approach with China has continuously been based on U.S. interests alone. Considering the U.S. recently imposing on all steel and tire products exported from China, it is not in a position to demand that Beijing comply with trade regulations that only promote the interest of a bitter Western power that senses the demise of the capitalist system and the rise of an economic power from the East.
It’s just as well. Now that the Obama administration has come to terms with the ominous reality that China has the upper hand in the global marketplace due to its ability to cleverly exploit the U.S.’s consumer driven economy, perhaps he can focus his attention on combating the reckless consumerism that is being fed by the abundant availability of inexpensive foreign imports. There is however, a logical solution: legislation that requires organic entities to remain responsive to market forces.
This would however, require an overhaul of the existing legal system, which is structured to accommodate and facilitate private entities, which achieve their rights through courts and lawyers—not the constitution. The interests of organic entities will always be fulfilled, while the consumer is often exploited by the socio-economic system existing in the capitalist state, which caters to the concentration of private power.
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