ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Making-the-right-connections-30267738.html
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Japanese ambassador to Thailand, Shiro Sadoshima discusses the lessons learned from WWII and explains why he doesn’t see China as a threat
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki incidents. What lessons has Japan learned?
That you should never fight a war. There were many casualties involved not only from Japan but also from many other countries. More than three million Japanese lost their lives during the war and all our citizens are determined never to repeat that again. My wife came from Hiroshima while my mother came from Nagasaki so I was told a lot about the tragic events… even as a small child I was shocked.
After the war, we established a policy not to exercise our military power overseas. We are now a democratic country and the people have the right to tell the government what to do and what not to do. That’s been observed over the past several decades.
What about Japan’s recently proposed constitutional change to allow the country to arm itself? Is that a step in the right direction?
The current administration has introduced another turn in a long-held policy, which would allow our self-defence force to exercise power when allies are under attack. Now, it’s time for us to go back to the normal position – before this there were some policy constraints.
Could this not provoke China into thinking that Japan is militarising itself?
Please take a look at what we’re doing. That’s not the case. We don’t even have long-range bombers or missiles or aircraft carriers or the kinds of weapons through which you project power far from Japan. The facts spell out that our basic policy orientation has not been changed.
The most important point is that the people control the government. Of course there are a small number of right-wing people (who may say we have to fight China), but I don’t think they’re the majority.
What’s your personal view of Japan-China relations? Is there a solution to the conflict in the East China Sea?
I truly believe that the governments of both countries are in a position not to exercise any force. Armed confrontation would not solve any problem and both China and Japan are clever enough to deal with the situation even though relations sometimes get tense.
You are one of your country’s China
experts. You speak Chinese fluently so
you know what China is thinking and what Japan is thinking. What is the solution
to the Japan-China issue?
We had good relations in the past
following the normalisation
(of diplomatic relation). There is
no reason to believe that we can’t
go back to that.
The new white paper of Japan’s Defence Ministry is quite critical of China.
It says that everyone should observe the rule of law at sea because Japan needs to secure this sea route to connect with many parts of the world.
You don’t think China is a threat (to Japan)?
No, I don’t think so…for the moment.
Do you see Japan lagging behind in its relations with Thailand and other Asean countries vis-a-vis China? Do you have to fight China’s influence in Thailand?
The media tends to misperceive the situation. For example, construction projects that are taking place not only in Thailand but also in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, are the fruits of economic development. We have done a lot of things and even China could use (those benefits).
Thailand, for example, takes the driver’s seat and as long as it navigates in a desirable way, no one gets off course. My mission is not to compete (with China).
China is very aggressive in coming up with proposals, among them the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which Thailand is joining. Japan however is influential in the Asian Development Bank (ADB). How do you balance the Chinese influence?
Your argument is valid only if you regard this as a zero-sum game. It’s not. Thailand is going up the ladder and becoming a more sophisticated economy. It’s a win-win game. We don’t have to counter-balance.
China’s “One Road, One Belt initiative”: Is it good or bad?
I don’t think it’s bad. Perhaps it’s like us – we’re also trying very hard to expand our business horizons. We have invested overseas in the region in Taiwan, Korea, China, Vietnam and so on. We have also started large-scale investment in the Indian sub-continent to connect East Asia, Southeast Asia and now South Asia. Connectivity is the key.
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