To effectively address North Korea’s brinkmanship tactics and China’s overbearing diplomacy, it is essential for Japan and the United States to step up cooperation further.

Visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held separate talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida. They agreed to press North Korea to exercise self-restraint on ballistic missile launches. They also agreed not to allow the country to possess nuclear arms and to urge the country to undertake concrete steps toward denuclearisation.

It is a typical tactic of North Korea to intentionally heighten a crisis to try to gain economic assistance through later negotiations. We think Abe rightly pointed out, “It’s necessary to make North Korea understand its repeated provocations will not bring about any benefits.”

Japan and the United States must not neglect missile defence and other military preparations. At the same time, the two nations must continue dealing with the issue in a coolheaded and resolute manner, through such means as steady implementation of sanctions against North Korea, without excessively responding to its intimidating actions.

It also is important that Japan and the United States urge China, which wields a certain amount of influence over North Korea, to fulfil its responsibilities in a proactive manner.

Kerry emphatically said in a speech, “The United States remains open to authentic and credible negotiations on denuclearisation.”

It is not an easy task to make Pyongyang abandon its nuclear development. But the international community should continue pursuing this goal. North Korea may eventually return to a dialogue-based approach, such as the six-party talks.

In such a scenario, economic assistance must not be provided to North Korea unless that country takes concrete actions. It is necessary for Japan, the United States, China and South Korea to carefully hammer out a workable plan so North Korea will not benefit from its diplomacy of threats.

In talks with the Japanese foreign minister, Kerry touched on the Senkaku Islands, saying, “We oppose any unilateral or coercive action that would somehow aim at changing the status quo.”

Similar to remarks made by his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, in January, it is significant that Kerry flatly rejected China’s apparent attempts to alter Japan’s effective control of the islands by force. We consider this the fruit of prior arrangements made by the Japanese side.

China should not be allowed to employ such tactics as blatantly dispatching government ships and others with an eye toward expanding its territorial rights and maritime interests. It is vitally important for Japan to persistently stress that having China abide by international law and rules is a challenge faced by the entire international community.

In the foreign ministerial talks, the third of their kind since Kerry assumed the post in February, Kishida and Kerry also confirmed the two nations would steadily move ahead in the process for the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. This includes the planned relocation of Futenma Air Station to the Henoko district in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, and the transfer of some U.S. marines from the prefecture to Guam. They also confirmed they would steadily work toward Japan joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks.

On enhancing Japan-U.S. cooperation in policies toward North Korea and China, Tokyo and Washington are expected to make progress on underlying bilateral issues through frequent dialogues.

(The Yomiuri Shimbun)

(Asia News Network)