Harvard Asia Quarterly Spring 2002 1 HAQ CONTENTS
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Harvard Asia Quarterly Spring 2002 1 HAQ CONTENTS HAQ Editorial Staff Editor in Chief Wai-Yin Alice Yu Harvard Law School 4 Why Can’t Japan Apologize? Executive Editor Ilya Garger Institutions and War Memory Since 1945 Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Steven T. Benfell A specific set of institutions established after 1945 explains the continuing importance Managing Editor Cindy Xin Zhou of the memory of World War II in Japanese domestic politics and foreign relations. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Steven Benfell concludes that apologizing to wartime victims is not simply a question of remorse, but of institutional change in Japan. Production Editor Lisa Thomas Chung Harvard Graduate School of Design Web Editor Matthias Lind 12 Interview with Ezra Vogel Graduate School of Arts and Sciences China-Japan Relations Area Editors Ilya Garger Sharri Clark, Central Asia Ezra Vogel talks about the challenges facing Sino-Japanese relations in light of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences ongoing salience of history. He emphasizes that regardless of other factors, the United Caroline Cooper, China Graduate School of Arts and Sciences States will continue to play a key role in shaping relations between the two countries. Jongsoo Lee, Korea Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Emily Parker, Japan Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Sujata Barai, South Asia 17 Dynamics of Sino-US Relations Harvard Law School The Perspective from Beijing Jin Pao, Southeast Asia Harvard Law School Willy Wo-Lap Lam With the approaching retirement of Jiang Zemin as President and Communist Party Associate Editors general secretary, Chinese foreign policy towards the US may change under the new Harvard Law School Melody Chu leadership of Hu Jintao. Willy Lam considers the future of Sino-US relations, in light of Wei Lily Zhou the expected changes in the Chinese leadership and the policies of the Bush adminis- Graduate School of Arts and Sciences tration. Sharon Chen Rebecca Culley Jay Fann Holly Gayley Julianna Lee Michael Richard 24 Interview with Sadako Ogata Harvard Divinity School Japan and the Reconstruction of Afghanistan Seong Lee Emily Parker Harvard Asia Quarterly Japan’s special envoy for Afghan affairs and the former United Nations High Publishing Board Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata talks to HAQ about Japan’s involvement in Virginia Harper-Ho the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Harvard Law School Victor Shih Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 28 The Breakthrough Generation Dalit Youth in Contemporary India Marika Vicziany Caste boundaries are blurring in Indian urban centers, resulting in the creation of a “breakthrough generation” of untouchables who are pursuing opportunities never before possible for members of their caste. Using interviews with students at the University of Mumbai, Marika Vicziany examines how the values and aspirations of this generation differ from those of their parents, and their counterparts in rural India. Harvard Asia Quarterly 2 Spring 2002 Volume VI, No. 2 Spring 2002 HARVARD ASIA QUARTERLY is a student publication affiliated with the Harvard Asia Cen- ter. HAQ was established in 1997 by mem- bers of the Harvard Asia Law Society in con- junction with students from other graduate and professional programs at Harvard University as an interdisciplinary journal of Asian affairs. LETTERS 38 The Threat of Islamic Terrorism HAQ welcomes readers’ letters and comments. A View from Southeast Asia HAQ reserves the right to edit correspondence for length or format, and the right to decline to Eva-Lotta E. Hedman print. Letters should be addressed to the edi- The notion of a “global war on terrorism” and the threat of “Islamic terrorism” beg tor and submitted to the address below, or sent further questions about variation across national contexts. Eva Hedman examines to: [email protected]. the diversity in the responses of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. SUBMISSIONS HAQ invites the submission of articles and es- says to be considered for publication. Submis- sions should address matters of contemporary concern in Asia. Submissions should be deliv- 45 Korea’s New Development Paradigm ered in electronic form via email. All submitted materials become the property of HAQ. HAQ Premier Business and Cultural Center in Asia reserves the right to reject submissions and to Kihwan Kim edit materials for length, format and content. Kihwan Kim outlines a strategy for Korea’s transformation into a business and cultural To receive HAQ Editorial Guidelines, submis- center. While noting that Korea has great potential to become such a mecca for sions schedules, or additional information, please contact HAQ at the address below, or international business, he points out the many obstacles in the way of such visit our website at www.haqonline.org. Elec- development and offers suggestions for overcoming them. tronic submissions or inquiries should be sent to: [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS Annual subscriptions to HAQ are available at 53 Harvard Asia Business Conference 2002: a rate of $28.00 (individual subscribers) and $35.00 (institutional subscribers) for four issues Phoenix Rising delivered in the United States and $45.00 for HAQ provides coverage of the Asia Business Conference held at the Harvard deliveries elsewhere. For more information, Business School on February 1 and 2, 2002. Keynote speeches were made by please contact HAQ or your academic peri- odical subscription service. Subscriptions are China’s Vice-Minister of Finance, Jin Liqun; former US Trade Representative, available online at our website: Ambassador Charlene Barchefsky; and managing director of Salomon Smith Barney, www.haqonline.org Jeffrey Shafer. Plenary panels and discussion panels addressed a wide range of topics, with Asia’s economic recovery as the overarching theme. Please address all correspondence to: Harvard Asia Quarterly 62 Conference Focus c/o Harvard Asia Center 1737 Cambridge Street India: A Turning Point on Trade? Cambridge, MA 02138 Susan Esserman and Arun Venkataraman USA Former Deputy US Trade Representative Susan Esserman and Fax: (617) 495-9976 Arun Venkataraman discuss the factors that may push India into www.haqonline.org a more liberal approach to international and regional trade. email: [email protected] Credits: Cover Design by Lisa Thomas Chung Photo credits: Dan Hui (cover, p.5); Marika Vicziany (p.29) No material appearing in this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in this pub- lication are those of the contributors and are not necessarily shared by the editors or pub- lishers. All statements of fact and opinion rep- resent the work of the author, who remains solely responsible for the content. All editorial rights reserved. Copyright © 2002 by the President and Fel- lows of Harvard College. (ISSN 1522-4147). Harvard Asia Quarterly Spring 2002 3 WHY CAN’T JAPAN APOLOGIZE? INSTITUTIONS AND WAR MEMORY SINCE 1945 BY STEVEN T. BENFELL hen he ascended to the Japanese premiership on April 26, 2001, Koizumi Junichiro seemed unlike any of his recent predeces- sors. Elected to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidency Steven Benfell is Assistant Professor of Political W without major factional support and largely because of his enormous per- Science at Western Michigan University. In 1997- 1998 he was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard sonal popularity, Koizumi seemed to signal a new type of Japanese leader University’s Weatherhead Center for International and a potential reformation of Japanese politics and political institutions. Affairs. His research focuses on nationalism and He both promised and seemed to embody change. During the race for the national identity, collective memory, and party presidency, Koizumi declared that, if elected, he would pay an offi- Japanese politics and international relations. cial visit on the symbolically important day of August 15 to the Yasukuni Shrine, where Japan’s war dead (including convicted war criminals) are enshrined. Once he won the LDP presidency, Koizumi reaffirmed this commitment. Koizumi’s boldness and candor drew criticism both within Japan and from the main targets of Japan’s past militarist aggression, especially the two Koreas and China. While other prime ministers had visited Yasukuni on August 15 or other days, most did so as “private citizens,” insisting that the visit was not intended as a political statement or as a reflection of government views about war responsibility. One previous prime minister, Nakasone Yasuhiro, had visited the shrine in his “official capacity” and succeeded in setting off a domestic and international firestorm, causing both Nakasone and his successors to avoid the symbolically provocative action throughout the late 1980s and the 1990s. Koizumi’s bold declara- tion therefore seemed to signal change in how the government – or at least the Koizumi administration – would address the thorny issue of Japan’s war responsibility. In contrast to the deliberate ambiguity of past premiers on the issue, Koizumi’s pledge suggested that his government would be forthright in addressing war responsibility, even in the face of inevitable criticism and possible harm to relations with Japan’s neighbors. By August 15, however, it was clear that Koizumi’s statement on the issue was not a signal of a real change in the government’s approach to the “politics of apology.” Instead, it was yet another instance of a long-estab- lished pattern of forthright statements followed by cautious back-track-