Japan Seeks New World Influence : Tells U.S. It Wants Greater Say in Global Political Affairs, Economy

Japan served notice Thursday that it wants to play a new, broader role in international affairs and management of the world economy, a consequence of its growing economic strength and increasing status as a global power.

The message, delivered by Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita in a meeting with President Bush, is that Japan wants more say as the Bush Administration develops its policies toward the Soviet Union, aid to Latin America and the economic integration of Europe.

The tone of the Japanese approach, reinforced more bluntly in a series of briefings for reporters by senior Japanese officials, was decidedly assertive, with clear signs that Tokyo expects to become a far more equal partner on global issues than it has been in the past.

More Forceful Than Expected

Bush Administration strategists conceded that they were somewhat surprised by the intensity of the message. Tokyo had provided some advance notice of what Takeshita would say but the tone of the Japanese demands was more forceful than some had expected.

“They see an Administration that is reviewing its policies . . . across the board. They see Europe moving toward integration. They are saying they want to be dealt in--they want to be consulted,” a State Department official said.

In the 2 1/2-hour session, which marked Bush’s first meeting as President with any foreign leader, Takeshita declared repeatedly that the United States and Japan should cooperate on more equal footing on “joint endeavors in order to create a better world.”

In particular, Takeshita told Bush that Japan wants the United States to consult far more closely with Tokyo as the United States and the Soviet Union move forward in their efforts to improve their relations. At the moment, Japan appears to be much more skeptical of the degree of change in the Soviet Union under President Mikhail S. Gorbachev than is the United States.

At the same time, the Japanese issued a sterner-than-usual demand that the United States reduce its federal budget deficit, which many analysts believe is straining the world economy. Tokyo is said to be growing increasingly impatient with progress on that front.

U.S. officials said there also are indications that Japan is prepared to begin picking up substantially more of the price tag for economic and political aid around the world--including such areas as the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Central America.

Bush and other officials appeared prepared to encourage Japan to take on a wider role--within limits. The President acknowledged after the meeting that Washington agrees with “the importance of frequent consultations at all levels on international issues.”

And aides quoted the President as assuring Takeshita that the United States is “not pulling back” from its security obligations in Asia, such as maintaining the U.S. military presence in South Korea and the Philippines.

Months of Hints on Role

The new, more assertive Japanese posture follows 18 months of hints that the Japanese want to take on a political role in global affairs that is more commensurate with their economic power--a push that Takeshita as prime minister has made a personal quest.

At a conference of Southeast Asian nations in December, 1987, Takeshita suggested that Japan plans to help guide the economic development of the rest of Asia.

And at last summer’s seven-nation economic summit, the Japanese produced their own proposal for resolving the Third World debt problem, challenging the plan the United States had offered two years previously. Before that, Tokyo had been passive, content merely to follow the U.S. lead.

But the push for more clout abroad also is being viewed as an effort by Takeshita to bolster his growing political weakness at home in the face of his administration’s recent stock market scandal and dissatisfaction over its tax reform initiative.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, a Tokyo newspaper, reported Thursday that popular support for Takeshita’s government had plummeted to a low of 27.4%--an unusually poor showing. Some fear that the prime minister’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is beginning to lose its grip.

Takeshita is to fly to California tonight and is scheduled to pay a farewell visit Monday to former President Ronald Reagan before returning home.

Takeshita’s early visit here, partly designed to overcome his increasing unpopularity at home, was supposed to have taken place Jan. 6 but was postponed because of the then-growing prospect that Emperor Hirohito might die. Hirohito died Jan. 7.

To underscore the importance that the United States places on its relationship with Japan, Bush has announced that he will travel to Tokyo later this month for Hirohito’s state funeral, a gesture that was actively sought by the Japanese. Bush also plans to stop in China and South Korea on the trip.

For all his demands for a wider role, Takeshita took pains to assure Bush that Tokyo is not about to challenge U.S. leadership in global affairs.

“There is no country that can replace the U.S. in the Free World,” he said. “We want the United States to be strong.”

He said that Japan hopes to be America’s “most reliable” partner in world affairs.

Japan has been moving steadily in recent months to step up its influence in world affairs. Earlier this month, Tokyo announced that, partly because of U.S. insistence, it again will increase its defense budget so that it can pay more of the costs of Washington’s international peacekeeping burden.

And just last week, the Japanese unveiled plans to expand their foreign aid, enough to make Japan the world’s largest provider of economic aid to developing countries by fiscal 1990, which begins April 1.

Japan also has taken major steps to stimulate demand at home and to open its markets to more imports, including manufactured goods from the United States. And it has helped the United States and West Germany to keep the value of the dollar low enough so the U.S. trade deficit can be reduced.

On Thursday, Bush publicly acknowledged Japan’s efforts in all three areas, and pledged that the United States will push to reduce its budget deficit in the coming fiscal year.

Japanese Finance Minister Tatsuo Murayama is expected to press the United States on the budget issue at a meeting of finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrial countries here today. Besides the United States and Japan, the other seven nations are West Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.

Cost of Peacekeeping Forces

Another role Japan has discussed is to help finance international peacekeeping forces--not only within Asia but elsewhere. Tokyo has begun to support the multinational forces in the Sinai Peninsula and has offered to fund a peacekeeping unit in Cambodia.

But the global scope that Japan sketched out Thursday extends far beyond the confines of Asia or international peacekeeping forces. The Japanese also listed trade, global debt, the environment and science and technology as issues in which they want to become involved.