Recent developments in the Far East have proved me right when I suggested some time ago that the U.S. should quit trying to please European nations and, instead, look to fast-improving India, China, Japan, Singapore, and HongKong for future trade agreements and cultural ties.
The latest evidence of pro-America sentiment in the Far East comes from Japan, which recently installed a new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who wasted no time announcing that he is seeking a strong, firm policy of friendship and trade relations with the U.S. “The Japan-United States alliance,” he said, “forms the foundation of our foreign and security policy.”
At the moment, Japan will serve as a most important ally with the U.S. and China in confronting the nuclear-minded administration of North Korea, which continues to make threats that it has and will use its nuclear capability if needed to ward off an American attack the U.S. has adamantly stated it has no intention of making.
Abe’s new policies include a continuation of the move made by his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, to send and support Japanese troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, which is something our haughty onetime allies in Europe have failed to do. And the Japanese have shown no indication of pulling out of Afghanistan and Iraq until the rebuilding program has run its course and the democratic governments in those countries are stable.
At the same time, Abe has proclaimed a new move to win stronger ties with China, India, and all other nations of the Far East and the rest of the world, as well. It’s a new era in the Far East, and, despite the continued presence of Communist governments in China and Vietnam, the burgeoning economies on the other side of the world bode well for America’s economy and its friendship with Far Eastern countries.
Perhaps even more important at the present time in world history is the fact that the Far Eastern nations have joined us in the campaign to rid the world of Muslim extremism and put an end for all time to the international terrorism that has provoked hate and insecurity in so many parts of the world.
One sore spot in the Far East remains a serious problem on all counts. That is Indonesia, the nation of islands and the largest Muslim nation in the world, which itself has been wracked by the continuing bombings, suicide missions, and ambush attacks by Muslim extremists.
The combination of Japan, China, India, and our most welcome ally in the Pacific, Australia, could provide the answer to Indonesia’s problem. One must hope that they will step up their pressure on Indonesia’s Islamic leaders to help subdue the extremists and offer an example to other Islamic nations in the world.
In the meantime, I would hope that the growing friendship and trade agreements between the Far Eastern nations and the U.S. will bring our onetime European allies to their senses and to the realization that the international war against terror isn’t our war alone. It is, most assuredly, theirs, too, as the rioting, deadly Muslim uprisings in France, Germany, Spain, England, Italy, and Russia have indicated in recent times. Western and Far Eastern nations must work together for peace, or all will suffer in the years to come.