[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 105 (Thursday, July 30, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9453-S9455]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 262--TO STATE THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE 
GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES SHOULD PLACE A PRIORITY ON FORMULATING 
  A COMPREHENSIVE AND STRATEGIC POLICY WITH JAPAN IN ADVANCING SCIENCE

  Mr. ROTH (for himself and Mr. Bingaman) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 262

       Whereas, advances in science and technology will continue 
     to underlie the prosperity and security of the United States 
     and the international community into the next century;
       Whereas, the United States and Japan are global leaders in 
     science and technology;
       Whereas, the rapid pace of innovation creates growing 
     linkages between science and technology and bilateral 
     relations in security and trade;
       Whereas, the Government of Japan, through its 1996 Basic 
     Plan for Science and Technology, made science and technology 
     a higher priority area of investment for the Government of 
     Japan;
       Whereas, the Supplemental Budget of the Government of Japan 
     for 1998 will result in more than a 21 percent increase in 
     the Government of Japan's support for science and technology 
     this year;
       Whereas, advances in Japanese science and technology are 
     increasingly at the global frontier;
       Whereas, cooperation between the United States and Japan in 
     science and technology holds the promise of better assuring 
     human health and nutrition, enhancing the quality of the 
     environment, lessening the impact of natural and man-made 
     disasters, providing for more productive agriculture, 
     stimulating discoveries in the basic processes of life and 
     matter, expanding supplies of energy, furthering advances in 
     space exploration, improving manufacturing processes, and 
     strengthening communications through electronic language 
     translation;
       Whereas, productive collaboration with Japan has increased 
     due to negotiated frameworks such as the bilateral Agreement 
     for Cooperation in Science and Technology and efforts by the 
     Government of Japan to invite larger numbers of U.S. 
     scientists to participate in university, government and 
     industrial research in Japan;
       Whereas, the flow of science and technology from the United 
     States to Japan is nonetheless still larger than the reverse 
     due partly to barriers Japan has erected to the outward flow 
     of scientific and technological information and data, as well 
     as barriers to the inward flow of foreign investment and 
     foreign participation in industrial organizations such as 
     consortia and associations;
       Whereas, the application of rigorous scientific methods to 
     the development of standards and regulations can help 
     mitigate certain market access and trade problems;
       Whereas, Japan's treatment of scientific and technological 
     advances continues to handicap U.S. innovators in Japan due 
     to inadequate intellectual property protection;
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that:
       (1) The Government of the United States should place 
     priority on formulating a comprehensive and strategic policy 
     of engaging and cooperating with Japan in advancing science 
     and technology for the benefit of both nations as well as the 
     rest of the world;
       (2) Among other goals, that policy should aim to promote 
     strategic cooperation on areas that further U.S. policy 
     interests in science and technology; more balanced flows of 
     scientific and technological information and personnel 
     between the United States and Japan; more rigorous 
     application of scientific methods in the development of 
     standards and regulations to promote efficient technological 
     progress and mitigate trade problems; and more equitable 
     intellectual property protection; and
       (3) The Government of the United States should integrate 
     this strategic policy into current and future science and 
     technology agreements with the Government of Japan.

 Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of myself and 
Mr. Bingaman to submit a resolution to state the sense of the Senate 
that the Governments of the United States and Japan should place 
priority on formulating a comprehensive and strategic policy of 
advancing science and technology for the benefit of both nations as 
well as the rest of the world.
  As this body is well aware, Japan is facing a number of economic and 
financial challenges that are of vital importance to the bilateral 
relationship. I have spoken about these challenges at length in other 
fora including through a hearing recently held by the Finance 
Committee. While our priority in bilateral relations should remain 
Japan's rapid economic recovery, we must not lose sight of other 
aspects of the relationship that are important to our shared future.

[[Page S9454]]

  For example, Japan is a major source of leading-edge science and 
technology. Two years ago, the Government of Japan released its Basic 
Plan for Science and Technology. That plan called for substantial 
funding increases and important policy reforms to further innovation in 
the country's science and technology programs and processes.
  This year, the Government of Japan will increase its investment in 
science and technology by more than 21 percent. With these new 
resources, Japan--already at the forefront in many areas of science and 
technology--will be poised to make further important advances.
  For decades, the U.S. has shared the fruit of its own basic research 
with Japan and the rest of the world in an effort to enhance global 
prosperity and the lives of average people around the world. With its 
increased resources devoted to science and technology, Japan has a more 
important opportunity to join the United States in taking a similar 
approach toward sharing advances in science and technology. The 
potential for greater benefits for both countries and for the rest of 
the world are enormous.
  For example, opportunities are emerging to improve human health by 
jointly addressing the problems posed by infectious diseases; 
sustaining the quality of the environment through research on global 
climate change; reducing the risks posed by earthquakes and hurricanes; 
furthering the fundamental understanding of matter so important for 
advances in new materials, telecommunications, and new medical 
treatments; and better ensuring mutual security.
  Partly because Japan was engaged in catching up with other leaders in 
science and technology for much of the postwar period, Tokyo tended to 
emphasize the accumulation--rather than the sharing--of information. 
Now that Japan is a global leader in science and technology, however, I 
believe Tokyo should move toward greater emphasis on cooperation. 
Similarly, I believe it important that Japan pay more attention to 
basic research that advances general knowledge as opposed to Tokyo's 
traditional emphasis on applied research.
  The potential for a greater bilateral partnership in science and 
technology is growing, and both the U.S. and Japanese governments 
should work toward turning that potential into reality. That is the 
purpose of this resolution and I urge my colleagues to support its 
early passage.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today in enthusiastic support of 
the statement made by Senator Roth concerning the U.S.-Japan 
relationship and, furthermore, to ask our colleagues to support this 
resolution.
  As you are aware, I have been integrally involved over the years with 
many of my colleagues in ascertaining the obstacles and opportunities 
that exist between the United States and Japan. I have offered ongoing 
support for a cooperative, forward-looking bilateral relationship that 
is defined by transparency, access, equity and reciprocity. Given the 
current environment in East Asia and the potential for political 
economic instability, I believe the U.S.-Japan relationship to be one 
of our country's most important in that region, and worthy of constant 
and precise attention.
  In the future, much as in the past, Japan will be both partner and 
competitor, and we must ensure that we maintain our support for this 
relationship while we recognize both its possibilities and its 
limitations.
  The resolution submitted by Senator Roth and I identifies the level 
of science and technology interaction that has developed between the 
United States and Japan over the last decade, and gives a number of 
suggestions as to where we should go in the future. Specific reference 
is made to the U.S.-Japan Science and Technology Agreement, which is 
now being re-negotiated by our two governments. Let me describe in 
concise terms what I see as important in this regard.
  Significantly, the United States and Japan are, at present, 
cooperating in a range of projects as diverse as Global Change, 
Earthquake Disaster Mitigation, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Global 
Information Infrastructure, Space Cooperation, Thermonuclear 
Experimentation, Deep Sea Drilling, and Sustainable Development. 
Individually, these projects include the participation of nearly every 
department and agency in the U.S. government, and all have been 
initiated and have prospered as a result of the U.S.-Japan Science and 
Technology Agreement. All of these projects will grow even more 
substantially with the renewal of the agreement. Clearly this is 
something to be encouraged.
  Significantly, all of these projects mentioned above will benefit not 
only the United States and Japan, but also the developed and developing 
countries in the world--many of which are eager for the knowledge and 
technology that derive from our two countries' cooperative activities. 
This interaction has already provided innumerable advantages to the 
international community, and can only provide even more in the future. 
With certain conditions, it deserves our wholehearted support.
  The current resolution outlines some, but not all of these 
conditions. As specific examples, we need to ensure that the 
cooperative interaction between the United States and Japan results in 
balanced and easily accessible flows of information between the United 
States and Japan, and that all data from this interaction be easily 
available to other scientists and engineers in the international 
community. International access to private sector laboratories in Japan 
needs to be improved. Divisions that exist between ministries in 
Japan--fragmentation that creates serious obstacles for research 
projects that include national universities and government research 
laboratories--must be made less evident. Effective mechanisms that 
allow the U.S. and other countries to participate in Japanese research 
projects need to be identified and obstacles that preclude this 
interaction eliminated. A more complete development of common 
regulations and standards should be pursued, and dual use and export 
control policies clarified. Questions relating to intellectual property 
rights have existed far too long and should be rectified. Finally, the 
obvious relationship that exists between science, technology and trade 
relations should be recognized, and understandings reached between the 
two governments on important, cross-cutting issues.
  While these aforementioned problems should not prevent the U.S.-Japan 
Science and Technology Agreement from being renewed, our concerns 
should be made apparent during negotiations.
  I would argue that any new agreement must satisfy three criteria:
  First, it must recognize that serious structural and 
procedural assymetries still exist between the two countries and that 
they must be resolved;

  Second, it must provide freedom for scientists and engineers to 
interact and complete their research as free as possible from 
government interference;
  Finally, it must recognize that the results that derive from U.S.-
Japan science and technology cooperation has the potential to alleviate 
many of the problems we face in the world today and, as such, should be 
easily diffused into the international community.
  Much of our current science and technology cooperation with Japan 
rests on a single but extremely important premise: the U.S. economic 
and national security interest depends upon its ability to complete 
fundamental research in critical areas, and then encourage innovation 
that will result in competitive advantage. Where this research might 
once have been done in isolation and without data input from other 
countries, it now requires the capacity to access information and 
technologies being developed elsewhere. While the United States has 
been inattentive to the importance of increased expenditures on science 
and technology, Japan has not. While we still lead in many 
technologies, we will not do so in perpetuity.
  Science and engineering are the archetypical endeavors of the current 
international society: individuals and ideas come together in an effort 
to improve the collective welfare of the global community at large. We 
must recognize this dynamic, and encourage it every way we can.
  Let me emphasize that the results of research in laboratories across 
the world are not abstractions. As America's productivity, 
competitiveness, and economic performance--indeed, its very economic 
security--depends upon

[[Page S9455]]

cooperative research and development with Japan and other countries, 
these results provide tangible advantages for families in New Mexico 
and every other state in the union. The car you drive, the home you 
live in, the appliances you use, the food you eat, the air you 
breathe--all of these derive from research and development programs 
that were undertaken yesterday. These programs should be a national 
priority.
  To this end, it is essential that we further solidify the cooperative 
linkages that exist between our two countries, to find ways to leverage 
increasingly scarce funds, to combine diverse and complementary streams 
of ideas and technologies, and to provide mutual advantages to our 
respective societies and the international community as a whole.
  Although some would deny the obvious synergies that exist between the 
United States and Japan at this time, it is not in our national 
interest to do so. The question is no longer whether these synergies 
will exist, but under what conditions they will exist. Interaction 
between our two countries exists on a scale far beyond what many once 
considered possible, and it will only grow as scientific and 
technological interaction between the two countries increases. We 
should take real pride in this development, just as we must, at the 
same time, carefully consider the path we will follow in the future.
  While the current resolution is non-binding, it does reflect our 
desire to engage Japan in an ongoing, cooperative, and reciprocal 
relationship. Senator Roth and I consider the U.S.-Japan Science and 
Technology Agreement to be an interactive arrangements of the highest 
importance, and we hope other colleagues will join us in our support 
for its renewal.

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