America has renewed its bluster in the last year. Politicians must sense that they will win more votes bashing Japan than bashing the Soviet Union. Criticism of Japan by US politicians has taken on a rather hysterical tone these days. I experienced it personally when I was there and met with politicians who told me that there was a new power shift between the US and USSR, as if this development should scare Japan somehow. These same politicians indicated that since both Americans and the Soviets are white, at a final confrontation, they might gang up against a non-white Japan.
Japan should never give in to such irrational threats. Japan also holds very strong cards in high technology capabilities which are indispensable to military equipment in both the US and USSR. Yet Japan has never played this card to improve its position vis-a-vis the US. Japan could well have said "no" to making available specific technology. Japan has substantial national strength to deal with other nations, yet some of the powerful cards it holds have been wasted diplomatically.
I happened to be in America at the time the US Congress passed a resolution to impose sanctions on Japan on the semiconductor issue. Congress seemed to be very excited, almost in the same mood as was the League of Nations when it sent the Litton Mission to Manchuria to observe Japanese activities there in relation to the Manchukuo incident.
I talked with members of Congress in this tense atmosphere, and I did not feel they were conducting matters on a rational basis. Some Congressmen were actually brandishing sledgehammers, smashing Toshiba electronic equipment, with their sleeves rolled up. It was just ugly to watch them behave so.
I commented at that time that the US Congress is too hysterical to trust. their faces turned red in anger and they demanded an explanation. I told them: "Look -- only a few decades ago you passed the Prohibition Amendment. No sincere Congress would ever pass such irrational legislation." They all just grinned at me in response.
Yet I must admit, that it was Japan who aggravated the semiconductor issue to such a low level, by not saying "no" on the appropriate occasions.
After he was elected to a second term, Mr. Nakasone promised America that Japan would avail highly strategic technology without giving adequate thought to the significance of that kind of commitment. The strongest card, which he should have played, was virtually given away free to America. He probably wanted to impress America, hoping for a tacit reciprocity from a thankful US. Unfortunately, it was only Mr. Nakasone who recognized the value of that card at the time. Both the Liberal Democrats and opposition parties overlooked the significance of this issue. I assume that the leaders of those parties, such as Takeshita, Miyazawa and Abe did not know it either. It is such a pity that Japan's politicians are not aware of the political significance of Japan's high technology capabilities.
In reality, Japanese technology has advanced so much that America gets hysterical, an indication of the tremendous value of that card -- perhaps our ace. My frustration stems from the fact that Japan has not, so far, utilized that powerful card in the arena of international relations.
What Mr. Nakasone got out of the free gift was Reagan's friendship, so-called. We all know that love and friendship alone cannot solve international conflicts and hardships.