Many analysts are optimistic about Japan’s relations with Asian neighbors if the DPJ takes power, since the party is unlikely to spark the kind of feuds over wartime history that have periodically marred ties with South Korea and China.
The DPJ could also prove a better fit than the ruling party with US President Barack Obama’s administration.
“There’ll be times when the Japanese disagree with us. Most of the time they’ll agree with us,” Daniel Sneider, Associate director for research at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University, said at a panel discussion in Washington this week.
“That’s a healthy relationship,” he said.
But others are still concerned about whether the DPJ can tone down security policies introduced in opposition once it takes over. The timing is especially critical since key five-year defense plans are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
“The DPJ may be able to make some mistakes on individual security decisions, which it can make good later,” Okamoto said. “But this exercise of deciding the five-year plan cannot be made good if they blunder,” he said. “Once it’s done, that’s it.”
“They had better come to a very quick realization about what Japan needs to do,” he said.
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