IP: Fall Foreign Policy in Asia

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: Sun, 24 Sep 1995 15:47:41 +0900
To: farber () central cis upenn edu (David Farber)
From: anderson () glocom ac jp (Stephen J. Anderson)


Kudos on having an archive for the IP list; there is no better way to get a
handle on U.S. policy and international reactions.  I appreciate your
screening of various types of information related to our mutual interests.
 I send one more report on the near future, both on Japan and on all of the
Pacific Basin involved with APEC.


APEC meets in Osaka in November.  At that time, a framework for free trade
is likely to be advanced, with specific dates and goals being set by the
leaders in attendance.  I suspect, and urge, that the U.S. side start to
discuss an Asia-Pacific Information Infrastructure (APII) at that meeting.
If there is no movement from the U.S. side, there is likely to be more from
the Japanese and other ASEAN players, particularly for an ASIAN information
infrastructure that uses local procurement, local standards, and local
control without any commonalities outside the region.  Already, the
Japanese ministries have such a notion labeled as the "ASIAN information
infrastructure (AII)"  which can rapidly shift the topics of conversation.
A recent meeting in Seoul to prepare for Osaka and raise APII issues is the
more critical topic, and any momentum in this regard should be encouraged.


A last note on Japan; please ignore the significance of any changes that
might be implied by headlines about Hashimoto as the new LDP leader or
becoming Prime Minister, as well as any about a radical shift in Japan
towards the US due to the rape case in Okinawa.  I think that no major
political change will occur, nor can any shift by implemented by Japanese
political leaders, because of the weakness of their coalitions.  We should
await the next elections here, no sooner than January 1996 after the next
budget is passed, and possibly next summer.  Until Japan elects new
leaders, no change in politics can be sustained.  And without Japan, or the
death of Deng Xiaoping in China, there will not be a radical shift in the
political economy of the areas related to IT and communications policies.


Steve Anderson
Center for Global Communications
Tokyo