US Policy Towards Japan (Essay Sample)

US Policy towards Japan
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u 1.Introduction PAGEREF _Toc435168678 \h 32.US policy towards Japan PAGEREF _Toc435168679 \h 3i.Importance of the Policy PAGEREF _Toc435168680 \h 3ii.Existing US policy towards Japan and Nature of the Problem PAGEREF _Toc435168681 \h 43.Effectiveness of the Existing Policy PAGEREF _Toc435168682 \h 6i.Strengths of the existing US Policy PAGEREF _Toc435168683 \h 6ï‚·Revised cooperation and strategic policy PAGEREF _Toc435168684 \h 6ï‚·Efforts to stabilize the trilateral relationship between China-Japan-US PAGEREF _Toc435168685 \h 7ï‚·Political developments PAGEREF _Toc435168686 \h 7ï‚·Improvement in FDI and trade volume PAGEREF _Toc435168687 \h 7ii.Weakness of the existing US Policy PAGEREF _Toc435168688 \h 7ï‚·Lack of Trust PAGEREF _Toc435168689 \h 7ï‚·Slow developments PAGEREF _Toc435168690 \h 7ï‚·Rigid Regulations and Legislatures PAGEREF _Toc435168691 \h 84.Proposal for dealing with the policy problem PAGEREF _Toc435168692 \h 8i.Recommendations and suggestions to the President PAGEREF _Toc435168693 \h 8a)Suggestions for improving bilateral economic ties PAGEREF _Toc435168694 \h 8b)Suggestions for improving strategic and defense policy PAGEREF _Toc435168695 \h 9ii.Strengths of the Policy plan PAGEREF _Toc435168696 \h 9iii.Weakness of the Policy plan PAGEREF _Toc435168697 \h 105.Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc435168698 \h 106.References PAGEREF _Toc435168699 \h 10
1 Introduction
The United States is a super power of the world. It is one of the important players of the global politics and the global economy that is why its foreign policy is of great importance. The impact of the US foreign policy is imperative for the different countries. It deals with every country through different strategies and planning. The foreign policy of the United States includes all the efforts that the government of the United States has been taken on the behalf of its national interest. The main function of the foreign policy of the United State is to protect the national interest to ensure the security and protection of people and the sovereignty of the states CITATION KAR12 \l 1033 (O’CONNOR, 2012). The purpose of this memo is to explain and discuss the US policy towards Japan in which the importance, nature, strengths and weaknesses of the existing policy have been discussed. Moreover, the proposed policy has also been given in the paper that suggested useful recommendation and suggestion to make the existing policy more effective. The memo is not only gives detailed explanation of existing policy, but also suggested a useful policy plan to improve US-Japan relationship in the future.
2 US policy towards Japan
Japan holds significant position in the foreign policy of the United States. Both of the countries are prominent players of the global politics. The relationship between the US and Japan was established after the World War 2. They support each other in many fields. Firstly, Japan and the United States are economic partner. Similarly, both countries are also strategic and defense partners. The US policy towards Japan focuses on two important issues. One is trade and other is defense and strategic cooperation. It is a need of both countries to maintain and establish positive relationship with each other to help in economic and strategic frontsCITATION Cha13 \l 1033 (Chanlett & Nelson, 2013). In this section, the importance, nature and problem of existing US policy towards Japan will be discussed in detail.
* Importance of the Policy
Japan and the United States both are the largest economy of the globalized business world that is why the priority of the US is on economic relationship. In the economic relationship, trade is the key factor in the US policy towards Japan. The United States is a world power and Japan is a powerful country of the East Asia. Japan has world’s largest manufacturer of machinery and technology that is why Japan is a most important economic partner of the US. Both the countries are also working together through international organizations like G-20, WTO and many others recover the economic loss that has occurred due to the global economic crunch. Together, both countries are account for almost 30% of the total domestic product of the world CITATION Wil111 \l 1033 (Cooper, 2011). The economic conditions of both the countries are significantly based on the bilateral trades and their trade relations. The economic policy of US towards Japan includes the improvement of trade relation in which trade of good, services and bilateral investment are the priorities. The US administration has always worked to improve their bilateral trade ties with Japan. Japan and the US both have industrialized economies. In addition, they also have high per capita income and high standard of living. Nevertheless, the US has a bigger economy than the Japan and Japan also experience economic downturns since last two decades. If US wants a good bilateral trade relation with Japan, on the other hand it is also a need of Japan to maintain good trade relation with US to recover the economic loss. The economic relations of both countries do not only depend on the trade but also on the foreign direct investment. The foreign direct investment which is also known as FDI consists the investment in the real estate, manufacturing sector, retail facilities, telecommunication sector and many others. The significant aim of economic policy of the US towards Japan is to maintain and increase the percentage of foreign direct investment CITATION Mic91 \l 1033 (Benjamin, 1991).
In addition, Japan also one of the important strategic partner of the United States. The United States considers Japan as a significant strategic partner because with the cooperation of Japan, it can have a foothold in Asia. Japan-US alliance was established after World War 2 CITATION Rob94 \l 1033 (Baldwin, 1994). The alliance between the both countries has provided the platform to US to control the security issues of the Pacific region. The main purpose of the US and Japan strategic alliance is to protect Japan and in return US has a control over the region. The two main security issues of Pacific issues are recent nuclear missile tests by North Korea and increased maritime activities of the China in the Pacific region. These two security challenges have also increased the concern of both the US and Japan on the Strategic and defense cooperation. At the same time, Japan always hesitates in improving the strategic alliance since the cold war, but now it is imperative for the Japans security, thus the efforts are going on between both the countries to strengthen the military and strategic alliance CITATION Ric12 \l 1033 (Armitage & Nye, 2012).
* Existing US policy towards Japan and Nature of the Problem
The bilateral trade relationships between both the countries are improving because it has been set as a priority by the US current administration. On the other hand, Japan has also reciprocated in improving FDI and increasing trade volume, but still the trade deficit between the both countries is very high. The existing US economic policy towards Japan has shifted significantly. Now, the United States is trying too hard to eliminate the trade deficit and offer a more strategic alliance with Japan just to improve trade ties. There are many reasons of shifting in the economic policy of the US. The first reason is the rise of China in the international trade market. The trade power of China is prominent. China has become one of the biggest manufacturer and exporter of the world. According to many analysts, China will be surpassed the United States in the global business market. Thus, China is the biggest competitor of the United States that’s why US is realizing the importance of Japan as a trade partner. There are many issues and problem in the US and Japan economic issues CITATION Cha13 \l 1033 (Chanlett & Nelson, 2013). These issues are the source of friction in the improvement of economic relationships between the two countries. The issues are; Japan imposed restriction on the US beef, restrictions on the market access by the Japan over the US, strict regulations over US investors by the Diet and restriction of Japanese auto parts and vehicles by the Congress.
The first issue that was banned on US beef by the Japan has affected the trade relations and have significant impact on the trade ties. The ban was announced in 2003 by the Japan, when "mad cow disease" was first discovered in the Washington DC. Eventually, before imposing the ban the "mad cow disease" also effected the cows of Japan and Japan’s agriculture minister faced difficulties in solving the issue. Ultimately, Japan imposed ban on the US beef. The issue raised because when the ban was imposed by the Japan, the negotiations between both the governments were going on but still without considering the concerns of the United States, Japan imposed ban on the US beef. The ban was soon lifted, but it has created strain in the US-Japan economic relations. Furthermore, the other problem in economic relationship is the US based insurance providers for the Japan. Japan has imposed unjustified restriction on the US insurance provider companies and also restrict their access to the Japanese market. The insurance companies are considered as the biggest threat for the Japanese domestic insurance companies CITATION Mas12 \l 1033 (Shirakawa, 2012). The US insurance policies are more effective and attractive to the Japanese people.
Therefore, the preference of the US insurance policy over the Japanese national insurance policy was becoming the matter of concern for Japanese national domestic insurance policy. Thus, Japan restricted the US...