Japan Envoy Blames Gulf Crisis on U.S. : Energy: Americans refused to cut oil consumption, he charges.

A Japanese diplomat, angered by American criticism of Japan’s refusal to play a larger role in the multinational coalition in the Persian Gulf, lashed back Tuesday and blamed the United States for spawning the crisis by refusing to learn how to conserve energy.

“It (the crisis) is your (America’s) fault,” Masamichi Hanabusa, Japanese consul general in New York and Japan’s second-highest-ranking diplomat in the United States, told reporters. “You caused the problem.”

Japan, Hanabusa said, sharply reduced its oil consumption in the 1980s, a period when the United States largely relaxed its conservation efforts. As a result, he said, Japan does not deserve the reputation of being more dependent on Middle Eastern oil than the United States is.

Actually, U.S. Department of Energy statistics show that Japan, which imports virtually all of its oil, does rely more on Persian Gulf producers than does the United States. In 1989, Japan imported more than 3 million barrels of oil per day from the Gulf region, while the United States imported roughly 2 million barrels per day--even though America consumes much more oil than does Japan.

Hanabusa, who spoke at a press briefing here on Japanese foreign aid, also insisted that the $10.7 billion in Persian Gulf assistance pledged by Japan is “very much enough.” He expressed dismay that Americans continue to criticize Japan for failing to do more, and for delaying the delivery of its aid package until after the war was over. The Japanese Parliament finally approved a final installment of nearly $9 billion in assistance for the U.S.-led military effort in early March.

“I am puzzled why Americans still criticize Japan” even after the aid has been approved, he added. “We have a democratic process that takes time, but the government made a commitment, and we have lived up to it.”

Hanabusa’s remarks underscore the mounting strains in U.S.-Japan relations. Both the Bush Administration and much of the American public contend that Japan failed in its first major test as a modern world power by rejecting U.S. requests to take a larger role in the Gulf crisis.

The Japanese seem increasingly irritated by the criticism. Japanese officials believe their rebuttal to the American argument is a credible one, in part because they tend to view the crisis primarily in terms of its impact on oil.

As a result, many Japanese officials did not share the U.S. belief that Washington was doing Japan a favor in the Gulf; they did not see the conflict as crucial to Japan.

In January, Hanabusa told Business Week magazine that Japan was willing to deal with whoever controlled Persian Gulf oil. “Experiences tell us that whoever controls oil will be prepared to sell it,” Hanabusa said. “We are prepared to pay.”