[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 136 (Friday, October 3, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S10333]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                     UNITED STATES-JAPAN RELATIONS

 Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, last week witnessed a crucial 
development in United States-Japan relations: the new guidelines for 
defense cooperation between the United States and Japan were 
promulgated. This development will require further action before it 
become meaningful, however, as the Japanese Diet must pass legislation 
to make the guidelines operational.
  The United States and Japan have maintained a strong and vital 
security relationship for a half century. Since 1960, the Treaty of 
Mutual Cooperation and Security has been at the center of that 
relationship. That treaty also forms the core of our overall security 
strategy for the Asia Pacific region.
  For historical reasons, and reasons having to do with constitutional 
interpretation, however, Japan's precise role in a regional crisis has 
been left largely undefined. With the end of the cold war and with 
raised tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the room for such ambiguity 
has narrowed significantly. A scenario in which American and Korean 
troops suffer casualties in a second Korean war while Japan debates 
what it could and could not do to assist in the effort would be a sure 
recipe for a collapse in the United States-Japan relationship.
  Therefore, I am pleased that the new defense guidelines provide us a 
clearer understanding of Japan's role in the event of a regional 
crisis. Still, Japan must enact authorizing legislation to implement 
the guidelines. In addition, I believe Japan should move to resolve 
problematic constitutional issues having to do with collective self-
defense to ensure even greater clarity in the country's security role. 
As I often said, the drafters of Japan's Constitution held that the 
document in no way undermined Tokyo's ability to participate in 
regional security arrangements or U.N. activities.

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