TMCnet News
Japanese editorial excerpts -3-+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, Aug. 23_(Kyodo) _ Selected editorial excerpts from the Japanese press: MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM (IHT/Asahi as translated from the Japanese-language Asahi Shimbun's editorial published Aug. 22) Poland signed an agreement with the United States to deploy a U.S. missile defense system. It is based on the idea of the administration of George W. Bush to protect a European ally from the threat of Iran and other countries. Iran has been repeatedly conducting missile tests and enriching uranium in defiance of a United Nations Security Council resolution. It is understandable that Washington is concerned about the security of Europe, which is within range of Iranian missiles. Still, there are many problems concerning the hasty deployment of the missile defense system. First, Russia strongly objects. The United States says the number of interceptor missiles to be deployed is around 10 and stresses they are not targeted at Russia. But Russia worries that if a missile defense network keeps expanding, it could affect its own deterrence capability. Anticipating the deployment, Russia agreed with Belarus, which shares a border with Poland, to build a joint air defense system. If things go awry, the move could trigger an arms race in Europe. Unlike during the Cold War, the United States and Russia today need each other for international security. Russia, together with the United States and Europe, is participating in diplomatic negotiations to press Iran to stop its uranium enrichment. If the rift between Washington and Moscow deepens because of the missile defense system targeting Iran, the diplomatic initiative toward Tehran would be undermined, making it harder to stop that country's nuclear development. This vicious circle would threaten not only the security of Europe but also that of the whole world. Poland apparently scrambled to sign the agreement because of the conflict in Georgia. The clash increased Warsaw's wariness of Moscow's intentions and pushed it to sign the missile defense agreement as part of a set to upgrade Polish military equipment with U.S. support. But this, too, could backfire. Although Russia has publicly stated it would withdraw troops from the conflict area by Aug. 22, it remains to be seen whether it would keep its promise. The opposition against Poland's deployment of the missile defense system could even have a negative impact on the Georgian situation. Despite such concerns, the United States hastened the deployment apparently because it wanted to reach an agreement while Bush is in office, coupled with its growing distrust of Russia caused by the Georgian conflict. How should the United States deal with Russia, which has recovered its strength with exports of natural resources and other means? What Washington needs to do now is not to be at loggerheads with Moscow over missile defense but to get it to withdraw its troops from Georgia and rebuild cooperative ties. For that, the first thing Washington should do is to freeze its rash plan to deploy the missile defense system. Senator Barack Obama, the presidential hopeful of the Democratic Party, advocates a global expansion of the U.S.-Russia treaty to ban intermediate-range nuclear weapons. The military card of such countries as Iran, North Korea, India and Pakistan is intermediate-range missiles that the United States and Russia have given up. The Obama initiative is intended to use disarmament to reduce the threat of missile proliferation. Although reaching an agreement will not be easy, we hope that it will lead to fresh cooperation among the United States, Europe and Russia. For Japan, the U.S.-Poland agreement is not someone else's problem. Japan is close to such nuclear powers as China and Russia, as well as North Korea, which conducted nuclear tests. Instead of leaning toward missile defense, Japan should make stronger diplomatic efforts to enhance security with disarmament. (Aug. 23) Copyright ? 2008 Kyodo News International, Inc. |