The Bush administration's high expectations for the US-Japan alliance have also been met, if not exceeded, with US officials expressing great satisfaction with the "magnificent" Japanese support for the ongoing war on terrorism. Washington appears genuinely pleased with Tokyo's willingness to be a more active security partner, albeit with significant restrictions aimed at keeping military operations well within the limits of Japan's Peace Constitution. Washington has also applauded Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's willingness to more assertively defend Japan's coastline, as well as his efforts to mend fences with China and the Koreas after last summer's controversies (over textbooks and Koizumi's August visit to the Yasukuni Shrine).
On the economic front, Koizumi's reform efforts continue to receive strong support from the Bush administration. However, Washington's current patience while waiting for real results may start running thin, especially if the US economy does not begin to recover and long-standing trade tensions continue to fester.
US-South Korean relations remain on a positive track, although more work clearly needs to be done to shore up this important relationship. Bush had a good meeting with President Kim Dae-jung in Shanghai, although it failed to completely erase the memories of the considerably less successful first encounter between the two allies in Washington in March. It will take smoother diplomacy than Bush frequently exhibits to overcome growing complaints in Seoul that US hardline attitudes toward North Korea are primarily to blame for the current lack of progress in North-South relations. Such views are ill-conceived, but they persist and must be dealt with.
The reality is that Washington continues to stand behind its offer for dialogue "any time, any place" with Pyongyang and it is North Korea's insistence on preconditions -- the most preposterous being a demand that Bush denounce his current policies and return to the policies of the Clinton administration if it wants to talk to the North -- that continues to block US-North Korean cooperation.
Despite some rough going at the onset and some lingering problems, as Bush begins his second year in office and prepares for his first visit to Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing, US-East relations are clearly on the upswing. The challenge now will be to build upon this momentum, despite the inevitable ups and downs in Sino-US relations, continued concerns about Japan's economic recovery and North Korea's always unpredictable (and frequently counterproductive) behavior.
Ralph A. Cossa is president of the Pacific Forum CSIS, a Honolulu-based non-profit research institute affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
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