Japanese ambassador bids fond farewell
Kaoru Ishikawa notes continuing progress in mutual interests
As he reflected on his years in Canada, Japanese Ambassador Kaoru Ishikawa said he alone could take credit for none of the progress.
“No individual accomplishes by himself or herself,” said the gracious diplomat who returned to Tokyo earlier this month. “It requires the help of my colleagues at the embassy and counterparts in this country and all the political leaders and opinionmakers.”
His successor, Norihiro Okuda, arrived this week but before he left, Ishikawa shared some of his team’s successes with Diplomatica.
He was pleased, for example, that negotiations are leading to conclusion of an economic partnership agreement.
He also lauded Canadian leaders for making several trips to Japan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, for example, went twice during Ishikawa’s tenure and many Canadian ministers also visited Japan, some repeatedly.
“There’s a deepening of political and security dialogue,” he said. “Top officials from the foreign service and defence are meeting regularly now. That is very important, given that our two countries are leading parliamentary democracies.”
Ishikawa said Canada and Japan have also widened the scope of science and technology co-operation, which, he noted, are a basis of nation-building. Both are working closely on stem cells and nanotechnology. “Each country has concrete institutions and we’re launching joint studies,” he said.
People-to-people contact is also growing, he said. Last year, 140,000 Canadians went to Japan while three times as many Japanese tourists and business people came to Canada. “There are also many Canadians who teach English there,” he said, noting the popular Japan Exchange and Teaching program through which they work. So far, there are 8,000 JET alumni in Canada. “They’re very active, a bridge between the two people.”
Finally, Ishikawa was in Ottawa when an earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan. “We will not forget the warm support that Canada and Canadians gave us during the earthquake and tsunami.
“Money-wise, it’s difficult to say how much. The Canadian Red Cross alone collected almost $50 million and that doesn’t include the money sent directly to Japan’s Red Cross,” he said. “There are more than 70 sister cities between Canada and Japan and there was much support through that and also person-to-person contacts.”
He said some villages are still covered by water at high tide but the country’s infrastructure has been restored — everything from highspeed trains to airports.
The ambassador also discussed the island dispute between Japan, China and Taiwan; the latter two claim ownership of islands Japan believes it owns. Ishikawa’s position is that after the Second World War, the Allies drew up boundaries and put those islands in Japanese territory.
“The story has nothing to do with Japanese aggression,” he said. “You sent us scholars and researchers and they drew the line and those islands were clearly within that line. When we regained independence, this was defined very specifically.” So it’s a simple matter of China not observing the boundaries, he said. “We would stand firm because facts are facts, but we will continue with cool heads,” he said. “(Launching) a missile-guiding radar was a very dangerous thing to do. Cool heads is the best way to manage international relations and that’s what we are doing.”
CHINA RISING
In terms of its recent history, 2013 will be challenging for China, according to China observer David Gordon, who spoke last week at the Rideau Club as part of the Centre for International Governance Innovation’s global policy forum.
Gordon was a policy adviser to former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and is now head of research for the Eurasia Group in Washington, D.C.
“The external conditions for Chinese growth have been favourable for a long time and China took advantage of those conditions to the utmost,” Gordon said. “I think that those conditions are somewhat more challenging now, after the financial crisis.”
He said the ability of a country the size of China, with the scale of foreign trade China has had, puts limitations on the ability to sustain an export-rich strategy. China, after all, has gone from being an almost negligible actor to being the world’s second-largest trading nation.
“China’s new leadership is much more self-assured and self-confident,” Gordon said. “What’s striking is an effort to talk about political themes and appeal to the public in a way that’s outside the framework of communist rhetoric.”
He wasn’t suggesting China is on a pathway to becoming democratic but said this leadership is more interested in exerting influence domestically.
Gordon listed China’s three challenges: economic reform; its role in the world; and political reform. On economic reform, he said consumerism is well on its way with big shops, little shops, new homes and new apartments everywhere. Now the leaders have to determine the role of government in it. On China’s role internationally, he sees signals of a less confrontational attitude, and on political reform — dealing with the massive middle class — he said the leaders have a plan but he suspects it’ll be insufficient.