The Hindu : International : Taiwan issue: U.S., Japan make common cause

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 19, 2005

International

International

Taiwan issue: U.S., Japan make common cause

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, FEB. 18. In what is seen as a major shift in not only alliance politics but also for its foreign policies, Japan will join the United States and declare that Taiwan is a mutual security concern. The significant shift will come after meetings between the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, with their counterparts from Tokyo here on Saturday.

According to The Washington Post, which has seen the draft of the document, Japan will join the Bush administration in identifying security in the Taiwan Strait as a "common security objective" and in the process, significantly alter the nature and scope of the existing Japan-U.S. Security Alliance which has been the cornerstone of American East Asian policy. The revisions in the alliance also call for Japan to assume a greater role in conjunction with the U.S. in Asia and beyond.

The Japanese move is bound to unsettle relations with China for Tokyo has been content until now to stay on the sidelines of the Taiwan issue and has even now maintained that it has not changed its stance that the Taiwan issue must be resolved peacefully. For the record Japanese officials have said that their Constitution places limitations on what can be done in the event of a U.S.-China confrontation over Taiwan.

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