The numerous recent meetings between President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) have aroused much speculation. According to some people, their meetings resulted from the visit of some important Japanese figures with ties with Taiwan. Lee intended to pass down his Japanese connections to Chen, thus these meetings were arranged.
Obviously, Lee is worried that there has not been enough diplomatic contact between Taiwan and Japan lately. And to Taiwan, Japan is a crucial East Asian ally, as both countries are on good terms with the US and under the common threat of China.
Lee has spotted the problem. However, to overcome the problem will require the effort of younger politicians. From Lee's presidency to date, Taiwan's relationship with Japan has relied on the personal networks of such individuals as Lee (a former student in Japan), national policy advisor Alice King (金美齡) and Taiwan's representative to Japan, Lo Fu-chuan (羅福全). These people have mastered the Japan-ese language and assimilated the culture and have quite a few important Japanese as their friends. However, these diplomatic resources may disappear as time goes by.
Since Japan carries a certain degree of importance to Taiwan's diplomacy, how do we maintain the new Taiwan-Japan relationship? The key lies in how we access the new Japan. "Generation 1989" was featured in the July issue of the Japanese edition of Time magazine. The feature article discussed the impact of the "1989 generation" on Japan's social values and its future political and social possibilities.
The year 1989 was a turning point in Japan's history. Since that year, Japan has entered the Heisei period, and most important of all, its long-term ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, split. The party's break-up did not change the makeup of Japan's politics, which was still in the hands of the former political elite. During the same period, Japan's economy started to decline and Shoko Asahara masterminded the Sarin attack in the Tokyo subway, followed by several other deadly incidents that endangered Japan's social order.
A Western scholar once described Japan as a company, not as a country, in view of its economic performance and diligent workforce, saying that Japan's life-long employment system, accompanied by other cultural factors, makes each Japanese attached to a company or a group, rendering individuals invisible, and that the post-war Japanese society believed in hard work because people looked down upon those who did not make money. Everyone therefore worked around the clock to keep their basic dignity intact.
However, the 1989 generation, which has lived through Japan's economic decline, has been changing these ideas. On the one hand, they pursue their own individual values. On the other hand, they overturn the old way of thought that those who don't have money will be looked down upon. Members of the 1989 generation do not avoid Japan's future development; rather, they think of Japan's future possibilities based on new values.
It may be too early to say that the 1989 generation will have an immediate impact on Japan's politics and society, though it will be worthwhile to study the train of events. It is like the students who pushed forward social movements in Taiwan in the early 1990s. Although at that time they showed their ability to the full extent by challenging political and social values, their real influence did not make itself felt until after the millennium.
Now let us assess diplomatic reality. Although it is important for Japan to remain on friendly terms with Taiwan, it also has its practical concerns -- to remain on good terms with China, at least on the surface. Under such circumstances, one of the reasons why Taiwan can maintain a substantial relationship with Japan is because it possesses personal networks built by the older generation.
Apparently, there are fewer Taiwanese students in Japan nowadays, compared with the older generation. We have to understand Japanese society before we can find the best way to develop further relationships with the country. Becoming familiar with its 1989 generation, in order to open the door to the new Japan, may be the biggest challenge facing Taiwan's younger politicians.
Notably, in the last generation, Japanese left-wing and right-wing politicians associated with different countries. Closer to China, the Japanese left wing admired the cultural revolution launched by Mao Zedong (毛澤東) but did not criticize the human-rights situation in China and its suppression of the freedom of speech. On the other hand, the Japanese right wing was more friendly to Tai-wan, maybe as a result of the common threat from China; but their way of defending Japan's conduct in the World War II is by no means acceptable.
Taiwan should start a dialogue with Japan's new generation, transcending the old boundaries of left or right-wing politics.
That will be the mark of real interaction between the two countries, as well as the beginning of Taiwan taking the initiative in international diplomacy.
Hsu Tung-ming is a freelance writer based in Beijing.
TRANSLATED BY JENNIE SHIH
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