DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/15/06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 004629 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION; TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR; CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/15/06 INDEX: (1) Gist of prime minister's statement on his visit to Yasukuni Shrine: "It makes no difference which day I go;" "I did not go to Yasukuni to pray for Class-A war criminals" (2) Yasukuni Shrine - where next? (Part 6): Official visits by the prime minister may wane; Emperor's absence not missed (3) Yasukuni Shrine - Where to go now (Part 7): Japan-China economic relations and summit meetings; Gulf between political and business circles over Shinkansen project (4) ABE to place junior and midlevel lawmakers in key posts in positive way if he becomes prime minister, while eliminating factional influence (5) This summer marks 61st year of post-war politics part 1: Japan, China jolted between friendship and confrontation over view of history ARTICLES: (1) Gist of prime minister's statement on his visit to Yasukuni Shrine: "It makes no difference which day I go;" "I did not go to Yasukuni to pray for Class-A war criminals" YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) Evening, August 15, 2006 The following are the main parts of Prime Minister Koizumi's statement on his visit to Yasukuni Shrine (Motives for his Yasukuni visits) Japan has reflected on the past war. We should never wage war again. The peace and prosperity of the Japan of today are not wholly ascribable to those people who are alive today. The Japan of today is also built on those who sacrificed their precious lives during the war. I visit Yasukuni Shrine with heartfelt respects for and gratitude to those who sacrificed their lives during the war for the sake of their fatherland and families. There is no change in my feelings this year either. Shortly after I became prime minister, many people told me not to visit Yasukuni Shrine on August 15. I therefore have avoided August 15, because I thought I must listen to such advice, but still I was always criticized. So if it makes no difference which day I go, I thought it was appropriate to visit the shrine today. I will visit the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery and a national memorial service for the war dead at the Budokan Hall, as well. (Form of visit) "I will go to both the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery and a national memorial service for the war dead dressed in this attire (formal tailcoat). It is better if pay my respects at the main hall of the shrine. Otherwise, security would be put to much trouble because there are many visitors. I visited Yasukuni Shrine as Junichiro Koizumi, a person who happens to be prime minister. I did not go there in my official capacity. TOKYO 00004629 002 OF 008 (Counterargument) Arguments critical of my Yasukuni visits can be boiled down to three. One is that I should not visit the shrine, because China and South Korea are opposing it. I am an advocate of a view calling for maintaining friendly relations with China and with South Korea. I have been friendly toward both countries since coming into office as prime minister. It is not good not to hold a summit just because there is a difference in views only over one issue or to hold a summit if I do not visit Yasukuni Shrine. I do not necessarily agree with the view that if I listen to China and South Korea, Asia diplomacy will go smoothly. Even if US President Bush told me not to visit Yasukuni, I would still go. However, President Bush would never say such a childish thing. The other argument is on the issue of the enshrinement of Class-A war criminals. I do not go Yasukuni to pay my respects to specific people. There are soldiers who suffered during the war and there are those who did not go to war but still died. We should offer sincere condolences to those victims. This is our country's culture. I do not go to Yasukuni Shrine to pay my respects to Class-A war criminals. Class-A war criminals were punished, taking responsibility for the war. There are two different issues here. Third, some say that I should not visit Yasukuni, because it infringes on the Constitution. I would like those people to read Article 19 and 20 of the Constitution. I do not pay my visit to Yasukuni in order to encourage Shinto religion, glorify or justify past wars. It is a matter of the heart. (2) Yasukuni Shrine - where next? (Part 6): Official visits by the prime minister may wane; Emperor's absence not missed MAINICHI (Page 2) (Abridged slightly) August 11, 2006 On July 29, 2001, when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won a huge win in the House of Councillors election, then Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka called on him at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. Tanaka briefed Koizumi on her meeting five days before with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing. She told Koizumi: "Do you visit Yasukuni Shrine because you promised the Japan War-Bereaved Families Association you would do so? I want you to reconsider it so as not to damage Japan's national interests." Koizumi, who was sitting on the couch in a relaxed manner, made an unexpected reply: "I am not going because I had pledged to go. I am going because I'm a public figure. I don't take orders from anyone." Koizumi then went to Yasukuni on Aug. 13 two weeks later. Asked by reporters about whether he visited the shrine as prime minister or as a private citizen, he responded, "I am not particular about it. Junichiro Koizumi, who is prime minister, visited the shrine." He copied the way the late Takeo Fukuda used to reply when he was prime minister. Koizumi looks up to Fukuda as his mentor. Former Prime Minister Takeo Miki, the first postwar prime minister to have paid homage at Yasukuni, said that he had visited there as a private citizen. Since then, the controversy has been over whether the prime minister is visiting the shrine as an official figure or TOKYO 00004629 003 OF 008 as a private citizen. Fukuda, Miki's successor, said, "I don't pay it any mind. I am going as the prime minister." Breaking three of the "four principles" for private visits to Yasukuni that Miki had proposed, Fukuda made the constraints of the Constitution ambiguous by taking an official government view. Fukuda's Yasukuni visit was an official one in effect, even though he called it an unofficial visit. Koizumi took on Fukuda's style. Those groups promoting official visits to Yasukuni by the prime minister greatly praised Koizumi's Yasukuni visit in 2001 as being the first one in 16 years. Since then, Koizumi went to the shrine wearing in a morning suit in 2001, 2002, and 2003. In 2004, he visited the shrine in formal Japanese attire (haori and hakama). In 2005, though, he went to the shrine in a gray suit, offering his own pocket money. Over his five years in office, Koizumi changed the way he paid homage at the shrine. Surprisingly, however, no criticism against Koizumi ever came from the groups advocating the prime minister's visits to Yasukuni. The term "official visit" was erased from the 2006 leaflet issued by one group that had sought the prime minister's Yasukuni visits to be done on Aug. 15. The groups shifted their stance. The group in question had a bitter experience. In the first half of the 1980s, it made a direct appeal to the Imperial court calling on the Emperor to visit Yasukuni because the Showa Emperor had discontinued his Yasukuni trip after 1975. Commemorative ceremonies were still being conducted until the fall of 1979, the 110th anniversary of the shrine, when no memorial was carried out. There were growing anxiety and displeasure among those who had pressed for visits by the emperor. Three senior group members called at the Imperial Household Agency, but they were turned aside. An agency official said, "The Emperor cannot visit the shrine, where even the prime minister is unable to go peacefully." The Yasukuni supporters positioned prime ministerial visits as the way for bringing about visits by the Emperor, but prime ministerial visits have now become their only significant objective. One of the significant turning points was when then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone gave up on future visits to the shrine after making an official visit in 1985. The sole objective of the group responding to the souls of the war dead has become visits by the prime minister and cabinet ministers. The view now heard is that the prime minister has supreme command in the postwar period and his visit will suffice in consoling the souls of the war dead. Yasukuni Shrine seems to be getting used to the 31-year vacuum of visits by the Emperor. The Emperor is special for the Shinto shrine, which enshrines those who died for the Showa Emperor. The links between the Emperor and Yasukuni occur when an imperial envoy is sent to attend the spring and fall festivals. After the revelation of a former Imperial Household Agency chief memo expressing the Emperor Showa's displeasure with the enshrinement of Class-A war criminals in Yasukuni, the Shinto shrine has underscored more than ever the existence of such an Imperial envoy. An Imperial court source said, "What are they going to do if the agency can't even send the envoy to the shrine due to the fuss?" Koizumi made a comment on the memo: "People have different views. Whether (the Emperor) visits or not visits the shrine is up to him, because that's his choice." The Emperor's absence from Yasukuni TOKYO 00004629 004 OF 008 Shrine, which has been forgotten due to the controversial visits to the shrine by the prime minister, is now lying heavily upon those who promote official visits to Yasukuni. (3) Yasukuni Shrine - Where to go now (Part 7): Japan-China economic relations and summit meetings; Gulf between political and business circles over Shinkansen project MAINICHI (Page 2) (Slightly abridged) August 12, 2006 Influential business leaders held a round-table meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Hotel Okura on the night of Aug. 31, 2004, the day after the media reported that the Japanese consortium had won a bid for constructing high-speed railway cars. Prime Minister Koizumi told the group: "It was good that Japan was able to win the contract." Mitsubishi Corporation advisor Minoru Makihara promptly replied: "But if the situation is left unchanged, Japan will fail to take part in the Shinkansen or bullet train project." (Then) Fuji Xerox Chairman Yotaro Kobayashi chimed it: "China hopes that the prime minister would refrain from visiting Yasukuni Shrine." Kobayashi headed the Japanese representatives for the New Japan-China Friendship Committee for the 21st Century, an advisory panel set up by the governments of Japan and China a year earlier. Other participants echoed Kobayashi's sentiments, with one remarking: "I want you to create an atmosphere to enable the leaders of Japan and China to hold a summit meeting." China has cut off summit meetings with Japan since Prime Minister Koizumi paid homage at Yasukuni Shrine on New Year's Day of 2004. Encircled by business leaders, Prime Minister Koizumi said in a somewhat excited voicet: "Since I visit the shrine based on my own political conviction, I will never change my mind. Visiting Yasukuni is a matter quite separate from economic relations." The Shinkansen project referred to by Makihara is a plan to construct high-speed railways between Beijing and Shanghai. China has made preparations for the plan in a full-scale way since 1994. Japan, Germany, and France are vying to receive the contract, their national prestige at stake. In January 2004, when Jiang Zemin left office and was replaced by Hu Jintao as president, the railway project was upgraded to a mid-term railway network project. The railway net will stretch across China, covering an area of 12,000 kilometers, including the distance between Beijing and Shanghai (1,318 kilometers). This giant project is estimated to be worth over 10 trillion yen. China plans to complete by 2020 the project to build railways exclusively for passenger trains with a maximum speed of 300 kilometers per hour, the same as that of Japan's Shinkansen bullet trains. But the project pointed to by Prime Minister Koizumi in the meeting was another project to upgrade the existing trains operated in an area of 20,000 kilometers across China to those capable of speeding up to 200 kilometers per hour. The Japanese government had initially regarded receiving the contract as "the symbol of friendly relations between Japan and China." Seeing the scale of the project expanding further, however, the prime minister, concerned cabinet ministers, and business TOKYO 00004629 005 OF 008 circles began to cooperate in an effort to turn Japan into the successful bidder. Many business leaders were worried about the impact of Koizumi's Yasukuni visits. On Sept. 13, 2004, just after the round-table meeting around Prime Minister Koizumi, (then) Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) Chairman Hiroshi Okuda met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing as the head of the Japan-China Economic Association. That was the 30th visit to China by the association. Premier Wen broached in the meeting: "We must bring the bilateral relationship to a mature phase." Apparently keeping in mind Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine, the premier added: "On the political front, there are several problems pending between the two countries. China did not cause such problems. A few Japanese politicians remain unable to deal with historical issues on their own responsibility, without seeing matters from a broad standpoint. In an attempt to dispose of serious problems pending between Japan and China, an undesirable situation has frequently been caused." In the Japan-China summit in Bangkok in October 2003, President Hu expressed concerns about the Japanese prime minister's Yasukuni visits for the first time. Prime Minister Koizumi replied: "Learning the lessons from history, I will offer cooperation, thinking ahead to the future." But only two months later, he paid homage at the shrine on New Year's Day in 2004. China directed its anger at Japan's business leaders. The Japan Business Federation has sent a delegation to China every year since 1994. In meetings with Chinese senior officials, the delegation expressed Japan's willingness to extend cooperation for the Shinkansen project. Since 2004, however, the Shinkansen issue has not been taken up. The Japanese business community set up in Keidanren a "council on cooperation in the project to construct a Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway" in April 2003, but the panel has suspended activities since May 2004. In the Japan-China summit meeting in Santiago, Chile, in November 2004, as well, President Hu asked Prime Minister Koizumi to stop visiting the shrine, but Koizumi, while stressing that his visits were "a matter of the heart," has continued to pay homage at Yasukuni Shrine. (4) ABE to place junior and midlevel lawmakers in key posts in positive way if he becomes prime minister, while eliminating factional influence SANKEI (Page 5) (Full) August 15, 2006 Chief Cabinet Secretary SHINZO ABE decided not to accept in principle recommendations from factions in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in selecting the three top LDP executives and cabinet ministers, should he win the LDP presidential election and then assume the prime minister's post, according to several sources. When he runs for the presidency, he will leave the faction headed by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. By making the appointments without giving consideration to factional balance, ABE intends to follow the method adopted by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Koizumi carried out surprise personnel changes. Abe, too, intends to be proactive and appoint junior and mid-level lawmakers. TOKYO 00004629 006 OF 008 Abe is concerned that if he gives consideration to factional balance in choosing persons to key posts, his popularity will decline. Amid the prediction that the LDP would face an uphill battle in the House of Councillors election next summer, ABE also apparently aims to stress the differences with the main opposition party Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan),which has formulated a tripartite system of party management by President Ichiro Ozawa, Acting President Naoto Kan, and Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama. Since former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga gave up on running in the race, various LDP factions have announced their support for Abe. With an eye on the next Upper House election, many party members have called on him to take into account an all-party arrangement. Abe's aide said, "Mr. ABE did not ask each faction for support. He will decide on the lineups of LDP executives and cabinet members on his own judgment. Regarding cabinet posts for Upper House members and posts to the New Komeito, the expectation is that he will respect the wishes of both. The idea is being considered that cabinet ministers will pick their own senior vice ministers and state secretaries. (5) This summer marks 61st year of post-war politics part 1: Japan, China jolted between friendship and confrontation over view of history NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Slightly abridged) August 12, 2006 This summer marks the 61st anniversary of Japan's defeat in the war. What are disputes over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Yasukuni Shrine visits questioning Japan's post-war politics? The Nihon Keizai Shimbun probed into this question, based on accounts given by eye witnesses. Former Ambassador to China Sakutaro Tanino (70) was ordered to learn Chinese in Taiwan when he was 24 years old, though the area of his interest was the USSR. As a diplomat, he continued to watch Japan-China relations, but he started his diplomatic career in a manner against his will. In 1973, shortly after the normalization of diplomatic ties between Japan and China, he was assigned to the newly-opened Japanese Embassy in Beijing. At that time, the town was flooded with friendship slogans, such as "China-Japan friendship forever." His eldest son went to a local school. He grades were all A's. His teacher seriously said, "This is a proof of China-Japan friendship." Leadership of top personnel China launched efforts to normalize its ties with Japan in 1972, when the Great Cultural Revolution was at the peak and anti-Japanese sentiment was deep-rooted. At work behind China's move was confrontation with the USSR, which escalated into an armed conflict in 1968. Improving relations with the US and building friendship with Japan became China's national policy. The Chinese government contained anti-Japanese sentiment with the influence of Chairman Mao Tsetung and Premier Zhou Enlai. In Japan, then Prime Minister Kakuei SIPDIS Tanaka persuaded pro-Taiwan forces, saying, "I will prevail on the party on my own responsibility." TOKYO 00004629 007 OF 008 Before China started talks with Japan, the President Nixon made a surprise visit to China in 1972. Tanino still remembers Zhou Enlai at that time. Zhou had Chinese government officials in charge of Japan affairs attend his talks with the US without fail, encouraging them: "Listen very carefully to our talks with the US. What you heard in talks now is bound to be of help in talks with Japan in future." In China, Deng Xiaoping steered his policy from Mao's principle of self-reliance to a reform and liberation policy shortly after the late 1970s - early 1980s period. In 1978, Yasukuni Shrine enshrined Class-A war criminals there. Tanino served as secretary to prime minister in the timeframe between the revelation of the enshrinement of Class-A war criminals and the spring of 1985. During this timeframe, a total of 10 prime ministerial visits to Yasukuni, including that by Zenko Suzuki, took place. China never fully protested about prime ministerial visits to Yasukuni until Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone visited the shrine on the August 15 anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time, China's priority was to sort out the confusion brought about by the Great Cultural Revolution. Economic development was essential in stabilizing the domestic situation. It had high hopes for Japan's economic assistance. Such circumstances were observable in China's stance. However, dark clouds began to hang over Japan-China relations. Then General Secretary Hu Yaobang, who had a personal relationship of trust with Nakasone, fell from power. One reason for his downfall is said to be that his pro-Japanese stance incurred opposition from conservative forces. The end of the Cold War also affected China's policy toward Japan. Its patriotic education, started in the mid 1990's, spread anti-Japanese sentiment. China-being-a-threat argument gaining ground Japan's view of China also changed in a delicate way. Commenting on the Tiananmen Square Incident in 1989, Tanino, who was then director general of the Asian Affairs Bureau, said, "It was shocking." Though all European countries imposed stern sanctions on China, Japan insisted on its position, "Japan should not isolate China." However, an argument regarding a fast-growing China as a threat has gained ground in Japan. In 1995, which marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, Tanino, then chief Cabinet Councilor for External Affairs, worked hard to draft the Prime Minister Murayama statement, which expressed severe self-criticism and a heartfelt apology. It was then Minister of International Trade and Industry Ryutaro Hashimoto, who decided to include in the statement the word "the defeat in the war" instead of "the end of the war." China highly praised Japan's stance. However, Hashimoto visited the shrine in 1996 (on his birthday, July 29). China heightened its criticism of visits to Yasukuni Shrine by the Japanese prime minister. China was supposed to have sorted out its stance toward (its view of history) as: "Some militarists in Japan caused the war. The Japanese people were the victims of the war as were the Chinese people." However, allowing Yasukuni visits by key Japanese politicians conflicts with the account China has hitherto given to the people. Due to the dissemination of the Internet, the Chinese government is now unable to control anti-Japanese sentiment as in TOKYO 00004629 008 OF 008 the past. Tanino stepped down as ambassador to China in 2001, when Junichiro Koizumi became prime minister. Looking back on his career, he noted, "I am glad I have been involved in China affairs." But he also noted, "Both Japan and China tend to wrap themselves up in suspicion. It is most important for top leaders to exchange views. China's way of doing things is childish." When the ties of bilateral relations were normalized, Japan contained its anti-Chinese sentiment and China contained its anti-Japanese sentiment. Tanino hopes that two countries will return to that starting point." SCHIEFFER