Japanese diplomacy of "national interests" might lead to frictions among its neighbors

The Japanese government will adopt further measures on the issue of the ownership of the East Sea next year. Of the measures, the denomination of the sea will be made according to the Japanese way. Observers from the South Korea believe that if Japan engages in the activities of its fixed "diplomacy of national interests" it is in the belief that the diplomatic frictions between China and Japan and between South Korea and Japan will become the political topic for the Northeast Asian region next year.

According to a report published yesterday by Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun the Japanese Foreign Ministry has planned that the prime goal for Japanese foreign affairs in 2005 is to protect national interests. In its 2005 financial budget, the Foreign Ministry has specially made an application of funds worth 7.8 billion yen or US$7 million, which will be specially used in the settlement of some issues Japan deems as its disputed areas.

According to the news from the "Korea Daily", the South Korean government is trying hard to persuade all governments and airlines to mark all the disputed areas as the East Sea on all their international maps. In the meanwhile, Japan has started all-round survey -- the contents of which is to fix the depictions other countries and international organizations do -- and will do its utmost to persuade them to remark the East Sea as "Japanese Sea".

According to the report by Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan has started up the special action on the East Sea. It will invite geographers and members with United Nations Continental Shelf and Boundary Committee to Japan to hold symposium and seek understanding memo favorable to Japan.

In the special interview with "Korea Daily", the Japanese Foreign Ministry expressed that compared with the budget of 7.2 billion yen the previous year, the increase of 60 million yen only accounted for 8 per cent of the total sum, lower than the whole budget growth rate of 12 per cent. The Foreign Ministry indicated that the additional budget would be mainly used for the celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of the Japanese-Russian friendship treaty and for dealing with continental shelf pirates. In 2005 financial year, the total budget for the Foreign Ministry will be 807.9 billion yen.

By People's Daily Online