Benjamin Reilly: Japan's Return to Guadalcanal
[Mr. Reilly is director of the Center for Democratic Institutions at the Australian National University in Canberra.]
History has a funny way of repeating itself. In a little-reported development last month, Japan offered to contribute peacekeepers to the Australian-led stabilization mission in the Solomon Islands -- the site of some of the fiercest fighting between Japanese and Allied forces of the Pacific campaign in World War II.
While the prospect of Japanese troops returning to Guadalcanal may raise eyebrows on both sides of the Pacific, this is a positive development: It signals Japan's willingness to cooperate with Australia and other liberal democracies in securing regional stability -- and to balance the growing weight of China.
Japan's offer follows from the annual Trilateral Security Dialogue between the U.S., Japan and Australia, as well as the Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation between Australia and Japan signed in March 2007.
Help is certainly needed in the South Pacific. The Solomon Islands government collapsed in 2002, necessitating armed intervention from Australia and other neighbors. Fiji still has not recovered from its 2006 coup, Papua New Guinea remains volatile, and deep-seated problems of weak governance, conflict and corruption afflict much of the region.
For this reason alone, Japan's willingness to re-engage in the Pacific Islands should be encouraged. But there are other, longer-term reasons for Japan's renewed interest in the region.
A decade ago, Japan was the leading aid donor to the Pacific Islands, contributing more bilateral aid to the region -- with the exception of Australia in Papua New Guinea -- than any other country. But the relative weight of Japan's contribution has steadily declined, with Oceania receiving only 1.5% of Japan's aid budget over the past decade...
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History has a funny way of repeating itself. In a little-reported development last month, Japan offered to contribute peacekeepers to the Australian-led stabilization mission in the Solomon Islands -- the site of some of the fiercest fighting between Japanese and Allied forces of the Pacific campaign in World War II.
While the prospect of Japanese troops returning to Guadalcanal may raise eyebrows on both sides of the Pacific, this is a positive development: It signals Japan's willingness to cooperate with Australia and other liberal democracies in securing regional stability -- and to balance the growing weight of China.
Japan's offer follows from the annual Trilateral Security Dialogue between the U.S., Japan and Australia, as well as the Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation between Australia and Japan signed in March 2007.
Help is certainly needed in the South Pacific. The Solomon Islands government collapsed in 2002, necessitating armed intervention from Australia and other neighbors. Fiji still has not recovered from its 2006 coup, Papua New Guinea remains volatile, and deep-seated problems of weak governance, conflict and corruption afflict much of the region.
For this reason alone, Japan's willingness to re-engage in the Pacific Islands should be encouraged. But there are other, longer-term reasons for Japan's renewed interest in the region.
A decade ago, Japan was the leading aid donor to the Pacific Islands, contributing more bilateral aid to the region -- with the exception of Australia in Papua New Guinea -- than any other country. But the relative weight of Japan's contribution has steadily declined, with Oceania receiving only 1.5% of Japan's aid budget over the past decade...