Friendly Summit in Tokyo Leaves Undercurrents of Concern

President Clinton concluded a three-day summit Thursday that celebrated U.S.-Japanese friendship and strengthened security ties, then flew to St. Petersburg, Russia, for an eight-nation conference on nuclear safeguards.

With long-running trade disputes pushed firmly into the background, the Tokyo summit ended in a rosy glow. “If we are to succeed as partners and as allies, we must first be friends,” Clinton declared at a farewell luncheon with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and a large number of distinguished Japanese and American guests.

While the friendly tone of the summit was broadly welcomed in Japan, it also left undercurrents of concern. Some critics said the United States swings too unpredictably between harsh criticism of Japanese trade practices and warm expressions of friendship.

Others worried that the new security arrangements risk disrupting the triangular relationship of Washington, Tokyo and Beijing by turning the U.S.-Japanese tie into an alliance against China’s growing military might. Beijing expressed similar fears Thursday, and reports from Taiwan--which Beijing regards as a renegade province--reflected feelings that closer U.S.-Japanese military cooperation would work to its benefit.

Prominent political commentator Minoru Morita said the Japanese people had “warmly welcomed” Clinton and would be pleased at his praise of Japan in the nationally televised speech Thursday.

But the festive mood created by Clinton’s visit, Morita said, is like the cherry blossoms that recently bloomed here: “They bloom briefly, then fall. That’s the essence of the brightness. Tomorrow, the bright mood of the visit will be gone.”

And the Japanese people, remembering earlier Clinton administration criticism of Japan and threats of trade sanctions for alleged unfair trade practices, will be left “praying” that the situation won’t change again soon, he said.

“The Clinton administration is like a moody parent--one day scolding, the next day patting us on the head and telling us we are good,” Morita said. “Japan is like the child. Knowing the parent’s attitude could change at any time, never knowing if they will be scolded or praised, the child resists and sulks. Up until now, Japan has resisted and sulked. All of that was softened by Clinton’s speech today. But who knows what will happen tomorrow?”

The summit’s festive mood of friendship, with serious business centered on beefing up the two nations’ military cooperation, provoked some newspapers Thursday to warn in editorials about the long-term implications of closer defense ties.

“Why a strengthening of the security relationship? Unpredictable North Korea might be one reason, and security for stable energy supplies another,” said an editorial in the mass-circulation Mainichi Shimbun. “But we should also not forget one other factor: the direction China might go.”

By pushing China further out of what once was a fairly balanced triangular relationship, the reaffirmation of U.S.-Japanese security ties brings with it a “heavy burden,” the paper said.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang warned that the U.S.-Japanese security arrangement “should not go beyond its bilateral nature; otherwise, complex factors will be brought to the situation in the region.”

“If the Japanese Self-Defense Forces further build up their armaments and expand the scope of their defense, this would be bound to cause the concern and vigilance of all other Asian nations,” Shen said. “It is our hope that Japan will move with caution.”

A Beijing-controlled Hong Kong newspaper, Wen Wei Bao, was more blunt. Tokyo and Washington put expressions of hope for cooperation with Beijing into the security declaration to soften the impression it was aimed at China, the newspaper said. “However, in the long term it is clear that their eyes are fixed on China as it gradually becomes more powerful,” it said.

Taiwan’s Liberty Times said the U.S.-Japanese security declaration “contributes to Taiwan’s security.” The China Times, another newspaper in Taiwan, predicted Beijing will move to counter the tighter Tokyo-Washington link by seeking closer military ties with Moscow when Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin visits Beijing this month.

Here in Japan, Satomi Nakajima, 57, a city councilwoman in the Tokyo suburb of Tokorozawa, reflected the feelings of many left-leaning Japanese and antiwar activists in commenting that she feels Japan has been “trapped” into stronger support for the U.S. military role in Asia.

But many Japanese are shifting toward support for a stronger military, despite the country’s antiwar constitution.

“The present Self-Defense Forces cannot protect Japan by itself, so we have to rely on America,” said Akira Fujita, a patent attorney. “But essentially Japan has to have its own military to protect our own country. . . . It’s too irresponsible not to have our own military power.”

Megumi Shimizu and Chiaki Kitada of The Times’ Tokyo Bureau contributed to this report.