[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E159]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     JAPAN'S OPEN MARKET COMMITMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB SCHAFFER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 12, 1998

  Mr. BOB SCHAFFER of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my 
strong support for the U.S. Trade Representative's announcement of 
February 3, 1998, regarding Japan's Open Market Commitment. This is the 
first time the United States has held Japan to its publicly-stated 
commitments concerning its photographic film and paper market. Eastman 
Kodak Company, one of America's most reputable companies, has 
maintained a market presence in Japan for over a century. Yet in all 
that time, Kodak has never received fair access to consumer markets. 
Kodak has consistently been forced to contend with an elaborate system 
of unfair and arbitrary trade barriers created by a close alliance 
between Japanese business and Japanese government entities. These 
market arrangements are aimed specifically at nurturing domestic 
producers at the expense of consumers and U.S. competitors. The U.S. 
Trade Representative's statement regarding Japan's Open Market 
Commitment is a clear sign that the anti-U.S. trade conditions in Japan 
are no longer acceptable.
  Asia's current economic challenges and subsequent failures are a 
direct consequence of the flawed Asian economic model inspired and 
popularized by Japan. Japan's tradition of controlling its economy and 
favoring specific producers has been duplicated in countries like 
Korea, Indonesia and Thailand, and is now being exposed as a 
prescription for economic failure. Japan's economic instability is 
demonstrated by the collapse of its fourth-largest securities firm and 
tenth-largest bank within days of each other. Equally, its financial 
crisis has brought to light far-reaching government corruption, 
including a scandal which forced the resignation of Finance Minister 
Heroshi Mitzuka, the most powerful member of the Japanese cabinet, as 
well as the arrests of two of his senior ministry officials. These 
developments expose ever-widening collusion between the Japanese 
government and specific Japanese businesses. These economic and 
financial crises stem from Japanese inflexibility, resistance to 
change, and the exclusion of foreign competitors.
  Japan's Open Market Commitment directly addresses the need for 
economic flexibility and open competition. It insists Japan fulfill its 
publicly-stated commitments to open its markets, to increase 
competition, and to end control of its economy by powerful bureaucrats. 
Rather than government officials bent on dictating unrealistic economic 
outcomes, Japan's economy must be led by free market discipline.

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