Towards a comprehensive strategic partnership between Australia and Japan: Japan's perspective

With 2006 and 2007 marking two important anniversaries in the history of their bilateral ties, Australia and Japan are committed to reaffirming the significance of their relationship and expanding it into new dimensions. The Australian and Japanese foreign ministers have agreed to build a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’ between their two countries. What are the factors that motivate Canberra and Tokyo to elevate their bilateral relations to the level of a strategic partnership? From a Japanese point of view, the main reason is the enhanced strategic importance of Australia with such indicators as Australian's enhanced security role, the structural changes in Asia and movements toward a new regional architecture, Japan's energy and food security, the trilateral strategic dialogue between Australia, the United States and Japan, and shared values and the Australian government's policy toward Japan. Both nations are expected to advance toward an even closer relationship with these factors in mind.1 1. The views expressed in this article, which was written in September 2006, are those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of the Embassy of Japan in Australia or the Japanese government. View all notes     

Organising cyber security in Australia and beyond

The Internet is an interconnected network and cyber security requires collective action. How that action is organised has important implications for national security, including the defence against cyber attacks and malicious activities. This article explains the origins and institutionalisation of cyber security in Australia—particularly ‘civilian cyber security’. The authors trace the origin of Australia’s first computer emergency response team and explain how this organisational form spread from the USA. Through it, Australia helped enable international cooperation. Domestically, however, the authors argue that the Australian government has struggled with the delegation, orchestration and abdication of responsibility for civilian cyber security, underinvesting in civilian organisations while overrelying on military and intelligence agencies. The history of this organisational field provides valuable insight into how to improve national policy and operations for cyber security.     

Human security in Australia: public interest and political consequences

The new human security paradigm has reconceptualised security beyond traditional physical threats to encompass ‘lifestyle’ concerns, such as health and environmental security. This article uses national survey data collected in Australia in 2007 to examine how public opinion views this new paradigm and to evaluate its political consequences. The results show that the public makes a clear distinction between all four types of human security—health, the environment, national security and the economy. Longitudinal analysis shows that health and the environment have gained greater prominence with the public since 1990. Each dimension of human security has only limited roots in the social structure. However, each has important consequences for the ideological orientation of the public, and for party support. The authors conclude that as ‘lifestyle’ concerns become more prominent for the public, parties of the right will have to adapt to the new paradigm in order to ensure that they are not electorally disadvantaged.     

Softly,softly to Iraq: Removing the inverted commas from Japan's security contributions

This article considers the Japanese Government's decision to send self-defence force personnel to Iraq 'for humanitarian assistance' as a basis for examining the tensions between expectations and aspirations of Japan's security identity. The deployment presents us with an opportunity to examine prevailing assumptions about international security and what it means for Japan's international 'contributions'. The article seeks to explore the theoretical constructs and practical constraints which foster the tension between those who expect Japan's military capability to be equal to its economic status (that is, a 'normal power') and those who champion Japan's 'comprehensive security' position as a long-standing alternative security interpretation. The article acknowledges that while the deployment may well represent the very limits of constitutional interpretations of the famous Article 9 (or peace clause), it also presents an option which ought to withstand ongoing international and domestic pressures to revise the 1947 Constitution.     

Working holiday makers in Australia: food security,climate change,and the backpacker tax

This commentary considers an often overlooked contribution to food security in Australia—the labour of working holiday makers. Their ability to act as a flexible and mobile temporary workforce is essential to the maintenance of the Australian agricultural industry. Previously, no tax was payable on income below $18,200, but a 2015 proposal to increase their tax rate sparked a vigorous political debate and so revealed their importance to the agricultural industry. A decline in backpacker numbers would cause agriculture to shrink to cope with smaller workforces. But the effects of climate change are expected to further shrink agricultural areas as extreme events and hotter temperatures impact crops, livestock, and the productivity of agricultural workers. Issues that appear manageable when viewed in isolation, such as increases in the tax rate on working holiday makers, become more problematic when viewed in conjunction with other impacts affecting agriculture. Thus, the ‘backpacker tax’ risks making food security harder to maintain at a time when Australia's agricultural system is already vulnerable to climate change.     

Australia,the security council and the Iranian crisis of 1946: Liberal internationalism in practice

In the early months of 1946 Dr H.V. Evatt made a concerted effort to shape the newly formed Security Council as a security tribunal. He wanted the Security Council to be governed by the principles of the United Nations Charter, to adopt regular procedures, to have an investigatory function and to make determinations on the facts of each case, not on the basis of power politics. Evatt attempted to implement his policy during the Iranian crisis despite the opposition of all the great powers, including the United Kingdom. This episode reveals the commitment to liberal internationalism that marked Australian foreign policy during this period and demonstrates both the possibilities and limits of an ‘idealist’ foreign policy.     

Japan's Political Leadership Deficit

Analysts have long pondered the question: 'Who rules in Japan?'. Prime Ministers who have exercised strong leadership have been the exception rather than the rule. Despite the widespread acknowledgment that Japan's political leadership deficit undermines the ability of the government to act swiftly in a crisis and to exercise international leadership in trade and foreign policy, a systematic explanation for Japan's weak political executive is yet to be advanced. While historical and cultural factors cannot be ignored, more relevant in a contemporary context are institutional factors that restrict the power of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. A parliamentary Cabinet system is not incompatible with strong leadership but, in Japan's case, the inability of the political executive to exercise indisputable authority, or indeed, merely to exercise the legitimate prerogatives of Prime Ministerial and Cabinet Office, is directly attributable to the constraints imposed by a collection of informal power structures within the ruling conservative party and by an autonomous central bureaucracy, all of which have held power away from the political executive. Various institutional remedies are currently being pursued to enhance the leadership of the executive branch. They are part of a deliberately engineered shift in power from non-elected bureaucrats to elected politicians. The reforms will also help to diminish the influence of ruling party factions over personnel selections to executive office and the ascendancy of internal policy cliques within party policymaking.     

Japan's global environmentalism: rhetoric and reality

The 1992 Earth Summit marked the emergence of a new type of global environmentalism in which nation states increasingly sought to represent themselves as key environmental actors. Since the early 1990s, Japan has attempted to position itself rhetorically as a global environmental leader. This rhetoric must be compared to Japan's international environmental impacts, which are considerable, especially in East and Southeast Asia. Japan's domestic environmental situation is evaluated, and five key areas of international environmental impacts are discussed: official development assistance, foreign direct investment, deforestation, overfishing, and the promotion of high technology. Motivations for Japan's use of global environmentalist rhetoric including its domestic political environment, geopolitical goals, geoeconomic motivations, and the increasing globalization of the Japanese economy are analyzed. The spread of the Japanese model of development is linked to Asia's continuing environmental crises.     

浅析日本的公共外交及其局限

二战后,由于日本政治、军事外交的开展受到诸多因素的制约,公共外交就成为日本摆脱美军占领体制、发展与邻国关系以及谋求政治大国地位的重要途径。通过人员及文化的相互交流、加强对外宣传、推行外向型的文化教育、经济与文化援助以及动漫外交等手段,日本的公共外交取得了很大的成就。但受自身独特政治文化及国内右倾化思潮的影响,加之其受日美基轴及相关政策的掣肘,日本战后以来的公共外交并没有达到预期的效果。     

近代日本渗透西藏述论

从19世纪末开始,随着日本军国主义对中国侵略的深入,日本逐渐将其魔爪伸向我国西藏地区。直到1945年战败投降。日本当局从事了一系列染指我国西藏的渗透和阴谋活动。在此期间,日本僧人以“开教”、“求经”等为名,最先涉足西藏。随即,日本军政当局也直接参与到渗透、侵略西藏的阴谋活动中。抗日战争爆发以后,日本当局出于其侵略并占领整个中国及亚洲的野心,加快了对西藏渗透的步伐。日本不但以收买藏人或直接派遣日本特务潜入西藏等形式,刺探情报,而且利用各种手段,极力接近和拉拢西藏宗教上层人士,给他们灌输亲日思想,唆使他们从事西藏独立活动,提倡“日藏邦交”,妄图将西藏纳入其“大东亚共荣圈”中。近代日本对西藏的一系列渗透活动,不仅表明了日本染指我国西藏的不良用心,同时也对当时西藏分裂倾向的增长起了推波助澜的作用。     

战后日本的中国研究

战后初期,在日本,最先活跃民间的中国研究机构是中国研究所(简称中研)。它成立于1946年1月,由战争期间在满铁调查研究机关工作的人员、新闻记者、左翼人士等组成。中研以向日本国民介绍和宣传中国革命和新中国的实际情况为己任。关于新中国的状况、中国共产党的方针、毛泽东思想等资料除外务省以及外联团体作为内部资料收集整理以外,到50年代前半期,由中研介绍的资料占很大比重,在增进日本国民对新中国的了解和关注方面,中研所起的作用可谓不小。     

日本12团体呼吁书——不能把否定宪法、踏上国际孤立道路的教科书传授给孩子们

由“新历史教科书编纂会”成员执笔编写的中学历史教科书已经部科学省公布审定合格,可供社会选用了。