Tang responded with a surprisingly conciliatory statement, playing down the previous controversy over a new Japanese textbook that critics contend whitewashes Imperial Japan's atrocities during the 1930s and 1940s. Instead, he emphasized that China would not make "unreasonable demands" on Japan.
The conditions are in place for a rapprochement between Japan and China. Tokyo probably will not adopt a position of complete neutrality between the US and China. Japanese leaders regard the alliance with the US as too important as an insurance policy for Japan if China should turn aggressive to ever do that. But the Koizumi government is showing every sign of pursuing an independent policy toward China -- one that is designed to advance Japanese, not American interests.
Those in the Bush administration who wanted a more active and assertive Japan are about to discover the price of that change. It means a Japan less subject to US influence on China policy, and probably on an assortment of other issues.
Ted Galen Carpenter is vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.
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