Japan Should Make Friends With Soviet Union

by Paul Cipywnyk

This column ran in the July 7, 1991, Asahi Evening News.

Great upheavals are shaking the Soviet Union. The union is weakening as the republics demand greater autonomy. The economy is a mess. Unprecedented political changes are made almost daily. Japan has a golden opportunity to help shape the Soviet empire into a true democracy, to turn a foe into a friend, if only Japan can get over its hang-ups about the northern territories issue.

Japan should swallow its pride in this case, and forgive the nefarious Soviet invasion in the last days of World War II. This is not the time to stand tough. Japan would probably find that assistance now would be amply rewarded in the future. If Japan makes friends with Russia and the other  Soviet republics and helps finance a transition to a free market economy, it will be that much easier for Soviet leaders to negotiate a return of the islands when they feel politically and economically secure.

Japan has made its point. When President Mikhail Gorbachev visited Tokyo in April, Japan didn't budge an inch and he went home empty-handed. Now that pride has to some extent been satisfied, Japan should take the initiative and extend financial aid and expertise to the Soviet Union.

Soviet leaders do not have the political leeway now to give away what is considered to be national territory. The Soviet Union has recently made great advances in admitting mistreatment of Japanese POWs after the war and making available lists of prisoners and burial sites. Perhaps Japan has something to learn from this, that admitting Japan's role in the war shouldn't be as difficult as it is, and that admission of guilt leads to greater trust, understanding and reconciliation, not shame.

Japan should do its utmost to promote democracy in the Soviet Union. Democratic ideals are hard to realize when the economy is collapsing and people are afraid of the future and tend to look to dictators for salvation. Japan should infuse non-tied capital into the Soviet Union. Japan should make contact with the independence-minded republics and help them get on their feet. Aiding the individual republics is a tricky and perhaps dangerous path to follow, but the future is clear. The Soviet Union cannot continue in its present form. The various nationalities and cultures will demand greater autonomy, and they need help now.

Even if the union disintegrates into its constituent republics, those republics will have weight. The Russian Republic, minus its empire, would still be the largest country in the world. The Ukrainian Republic on its own would rank in territory, population, and resources as one of the largest countries in Europe. Japan, and other first-world nations, must not underestimate the Soviet republics' desire for for political independence and free-market determinism.

By tying aid to the northern territories issue, Japan risks alienating a declining superpower. A declining superpower that by virtue of geography and resources and population, will be a great power again. You don't kick people when they are down. That just makes them madder when they eventually get up. You make friends by helping them up, and they are up they'll remember and be in a much more giving mood.

Japan and the Soviet Union are not friends, yet. But to put a twist on the old saying, "A friend in need is a friend indeed," Japan should capitalize on the present turmoil there and make friends. If Japan lends a helping hand now, it will find it much easier to negotiate the return of the islands in the future.