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Focus on China

Obama, Abe look to counter China’s pull

– A ‘normal’ country –

During his meeting with Abe, Obama will also seek to encourage the emergence of a more assertive Japan, which could prove a potent counterbalance to China.

On Monday the United States and Japan unveiled new rules for defence cooperation in a historic move that will give Japanese forces a wider global role and allow them to come to the defence of US assets.

While North Korea is a perennial threat, Abe has made clear his belief that China is destabilizing the region via its assertive claims to territory at sea.

Japan’s military was scrapped after the end of World War II, and pacifism is enshrined in the country’s constitution, which Abe has sought to reinterpret.

A more robust foreign policy from Japan could fit nicely with Obama’s “pivot to Asia,” a strategy of aggressively nurturing a network of alliances in the region.

But Japan’s past and Abe’s attitudes towards it could scupper a united front that is able to resist China’s centripetal pull.

Tokyo’s relationship with US ally South Korea has been tainted by Abe’s alleged efforts to minimize Japan’s own atrocities during World War II, particularly the forced sexual enslavement of up to 200,000 “comfort women” from Korea and China.

With the 70th anniversary of war at hand, South Korea has called for Abe to repeat the apologies of his predecessors, something he has so far been reluctant to do.

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“My heart aches when I think about the people who were victimized by human trafficking and who were subject to immeasurable pain and suffering beyond description,” he said Monday in Boston.

“On this score my feeling is no different from my predecessor prime ministers.”

On Monday Abe also visited Arlington National Cemetery – laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – and the Holocaust Memorial Museum, both symbolic gestures that hint at contrition.

On Wednesday Abe will become the first Japanese prime minister to address a joint session of the US Congress, where sympathy for South Korea’s demands runs high.

But there, contrition may not be enough.

“What and how he comments about World War II will be closely watched,” said Shihoko Goto, an analyst at the Wilson Centre. “What Washington needs is a Japan that it can rely on and a respected leader in Asia.”

Goto added: “The success of Abe’s visit will be measured in part by how and whether he can turn the tide of public opinion. Can he project a Japan that is empathetic? Soft power will matter as much as securing military and trade partnerships in this visit.”

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