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Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda looked tired and exhausted on Aug. 28, when the Korean and Japanese delegations to the Korea-Japan Forum paid him a courtesy call at his official residence. Three days later he resigned.
But on the Dokdo issue, Fukuda took a clear position. His voice was low but the content was firm. Dokdo is a problem involving Japan's territorial rights, he said, an issue to be resolved through dialogue, and Japan will not attempt to change Korea's effective dominion of the islets by force. What he meant was that Japan has no intention to retract its territorial claim to the islets either. Gong Ro-myung, the former foreign minister who headed the Korean delegation, responded that the Dokdo issue is a historical rather than a territorial issue, that Japan's territorial claim to the islets constitutes a major block for a future-oriented development of bilateral relations, and therefore that Tokyo needs to shift its stance on the matter.
Given that it is a trait of the Japanese to avoid raising an issue that is embarrassing to the other side, in particular since the occasion had been arranged to welcome the Korean delegation that was in Japan to discuss ways of developing bilateral relations, Fukuda¡¯s remarks were surprising. It would have been understandable if such remarks had been made by former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who paid his respects at the Yasukuni Shrine and pursued an arrogant foreign policy in Asia, or his successor Shinzo Abe, a neoconservative who wanted to shake off the fetters of history. But Fukuda was the one who wanted to address Japan¡¯s isolation in Asia after the devastation wreaked by his predecessors. Was it because he had a sudden Damascene conversion or because the hard Right in Japan made a big fuss about it?
As far as the Dokdo issue is concerned, there is no distinction between the ruling and opposition parties in Japan. If lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party raise territorial claims to Dokdo and if Korea counters them, Japan's opposition Democratic Party legislators takes the microphone and says the opposition party shares the position of LDP on the issue. Many liberal Japanese intellectuals, too, hold that Japan has no intention of taking Dokdo by force and complain that Korea is getting too excited about the issue although it explained that it will teach Korea¡¯s position as well.
The biggest hurdle to Japan's desire to join to the UN Security Council has been China's threats to exercise its veto. Chinese President Hu Jintao, during his visit to Japan in May, however, unpacked the gift package Japan had been waiting for, when he declared, "China hopes Japan will play a more important and constructive role in the UN." This indicates that China, according to its state policy of nourishing its strength by shading the sword, has understood that it is smarter to pat Japan on the shoulder and court Japan's economic might and technology.
Influenced by such changes within and outside Japan, the territorial claim to the Dokdo islets has become a chronic disease, like diabetes and high blood pressure. You cannot get rid of a chronic disease, but you can live with it provided you take good care of yourself. Taking advantage of our naive response -- hanging huge Dokdo paintings on public buildings whenever Japan raises the issue -- Tokyo has managed to boost its public awareness of the issue from 5 percent 20 years ago to the 70 percent range.
Russia, which occupies the Kuril Islands, turns a deaf ear whenever Japan claims territorial rights to them. Japan, too, hoists its flag on the Diaoyutai Islands, or Senkaku in Japanese, and repulse Chinese and Taiwanese attempts to land on them without noise. It has dealt with Chinese territorial claims to the islands as if they were a chronic disease. It seems to think that the islands belong to it no matter what, so why should it bother to counter China and Taiwan¡¯s attempts every time they occur. We too should address Japan¡¯s claims to Dokdo accordingly -- even more so now it seems that hardliner Taro Aso, who is notorious for his careless remarks on historic matters, is likely to assume the premiership.
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