Normalize Japan

President Bush understandably focused his first term foreign policy on addressing the threat of international terrorism. While Iraq and the Middle East will continue to occupy the efforts of his second term, the twin threats of China's rise and North Korea's nuclear ambitions demonstrate that President Bush must now adjust American relations with Asia by encouraging Japan to pursue a more assertive foreign policy.\nChina is dominating international news because of its sizzling economic growth and technological advancement. Not content to be solely an economic powerhouse, Beijing has begun to pursue a more aggressive foreign policy that places a priority on securing oil reserves and preventing formal Taiwanese independence.\nAlthough China poses a strategic threat to America's role as a dominant superpower, no one can deny that the People's Republic is a power on the rise, destined for a more influential role in the world. North Korea, on the other hand, represents a dangerous and desperate menace to the peace and stability of Asia. \nThe Bush administration has few palatable options for peacefully resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis. China is the only country capable of coercing Pyongyang into abandoning its nuclear ambitions, and Beijing remains skeptical of American intelligence regarding the North Korean nuclear program.\nFaced with a stalemate in North Korea and an increasingly aggressive China, the Bush administration must encourage our Japanese ally to increase its influence in Asia. Japan has long remained a pacifist nation because of its brutal World War II conduct, but it deserves to be a "normal" country again.\nConsidering the threatening environment in Asia, Japan should be permitted and encouraged to display a more muscular foreign policy. A more capable Japanese military would counter a nuclear North Korea and a rapidly modernizing Chinese military.\nFortunately, Japan has shown a recent willingness to assert itself in Asian affairs. Tokyo irritated Beijing by declaring the issue of Taiwanese sovereignty to be a mutual security concern with the United States. Japan also sent shockwaves through Asia by sending peacekeeping troops to Iraq. \nChina and South Korea would certainly protest American encouragement of a stronger Japan, but the risks of such a policy are manageable. The engine of China's rise -- her economy -- is too reliant on Japan and America for the Communist government to act rashly. South Korea, on the other hand, can do little to protest the policy because of the need for American influence to counter the North Korean threat.\nJapan's atrocities in the World War II should not be forgotten, but they are no longer a reason for Japan to act passively in international relations in the 21st century. Bush has adapted American foreign policy to respond to the terrorist threat facing the United States. He should now focus his attention on the strategic threat in Asia by fortifying the Japanese-American alliance and encouraging Tokyo to conduct a bold foreign policy befitting her status as a great power.