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PRIME MINISTER
ADDRESS BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP
KEIO UNIVERSITY, TOKYO THURSDAY, 25 MAY 1995
It Is a very great pleasure to be here at one of Japan's most eminent
academic Institutions. I thank Keio University both for its kind Invitation
to speak and for the honour which has been bestowed on me today.
I am very much aware of the role that Kelo University has played In
Japan's history. Its fame parallels that of Its founder, Yuklchi Fukuzawa,
a man of remarkable vision who believed that Japan had nothing to fear
and much to gain from being open to the world, and through education,
economic development and modernisation, made an outstanding contribution to
this country.
Today, the University he founded continues to play an influential role In
the life of modern Japan. I understand that about one In every five of
Japan's Diet members and many senior business executives attended
this University.
I am pleased to see some of these illustrious Kelo graduates here today,
and I look forward to meeting others during my visit among them MITI
Minister, Mr Hashimoto, for whom I have a very warm personal regard.
Keio University has strong ties with Australia. Its Australian Studies
course is a constructive link In the relationship between Australia and
Japan and a practical example of our mutual recognition that we must
continue to broaden knowledge and understanding of each other.
We would like to see the ties made stronger, and I will be doubly
honoured by this occasion If In some way It serves to strengthen them.
For all these reasons this seems an appropriate place to offer an
Australian's view of modern Japan a very friendly Australian's view, I
might say.
It Is part of my privilege today to know that among this distinguished
audience are some of the next generation of Japanese leaders. The
young people here carry a share of the responsibility for Japan's future,
and hence for the f uture of our f riendship.
Today, In part, my remarks are addressed specifically to you.
I want you to understand the significance and the magnitude of our
relationship, the good It does now and Its potential for good. I want you
to form an understanding of Australia and Australia's view of the region
and the world.
However, the weight of my remarks must be directed to the older
members of the audience. This is where the weight of responsibility fails
as It always does, In every country on the present generation of
leaders. Ultimately the future depends on their capacity and willingness
to renew their vision.
This visit my third to Japan in three years occurs against the
backdrop of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Pacific War.
The Second World War brought vast suffering and destruction to the
peoples of the Asia-Pacific. Millions died, Including 2.4 million
Japanese. More than 17,000 Australians died, nearly half of them as
prisoners of war.
We should not forget these things or fail to reflect upon the reasons for
them not to keep an old animosity alive, but to strengthen the
foundations of understanding on which friendships are built.
We ignore history at our peril. I don't believe we can deliver a secure
future to our young people without coming to grips with the realities of
our past. That Is a lesson I think we are learning, In other contexts, In
Australia. I am encouraged to hear that Japanese students are also beginning to
learn more about the war. It is knowledge which will serve them well:
and it will serve Japan well as this new generation takes on the
responsibility for the future.
In particular, It will help as Japan seeks acceptance and legitimacy for
leadership in the region a status which Is In every practical sense
Japan's due.
I said on another occasion that among the countries of our region " a
common awareness of the history we share will strengthen the basis of
trust and cooperation between us." I am no less convinced of that now.
That Is why I think that, on this anniversary of the end of the war in the
Pacific, Japan can make a very substantial contribution to the region's
future If, as you decide upon the way forward, you also decide to
confront the past.
Learning the right lessons from the past Is, of course, the essential task.
I believe the lesson Is openness.
The global economy becomes a more and more pervasive fact of life.
The revolution in Information technology and communications speeds
that process while reaching Into all our lives.
Today we might be forgiven for thinking that openness is not a path we
can chos to take, but rather one we are being forced down. And, If we
take that view, we might easily take it as a corollary that the national
Imperative Is resistance that we must close our shutters and protect
both our Industries and our cultural differences.
I don't take this view. I think the Internationalisatlon of economies and
the revolution In telecommunications offer unprecedented opportunities,
not only for business but for cultural expression and creativity.
It puts a premium on our cultural differences. It encourages cultural
definition and renewal. With such a rich and famously resilient culture
and such a strong sense of Identity, It therefore seems to me that Japan
has little to fear and everything to gain from an open, pluralist regional
and world environment.
The option certainly remains to turn inwards and shut out the world but
it was always a poor option, and It Is a worse one now.
It Is the option Australia took for years. For generations we Isolated
ourselves behind high tariff walls and racially based Immigration
policies. We looked through a narrow window on the world which
afforded a view of little more than the country in whose Empire we had
once been a colony.
Long after we became a nation we continued to look to there for our
political, economic and cultural sustenance.
We Australians were delivered an enormously rich British and European
heritage and the best of It we will always cherish and maintain but when
we began to lift our heads and looked to Asia and the Pacific we saw
how much more was open to us.
We saw how much more there was to being Austraiian.
This awareness of the region has been a major factor obliging us to
realise that economically and culturally, we have to be open. And that
we have to change. Indeed It was our awareness of Asian rates of
growth which more than anything else propelled us in the eighties into a
decade of radical economic reform.
We have pulled down the tariff wall, floated our currency, deregulated
our financial markets and restructured our Industries.
In short we have done the hard things we had to do if we were going to
succeed In the world and give new generations of Australians a chance
In the future.
There have been great rewards life-saving rewards.
Our productivity and competitiveness have dramatically improved In the
past decade.
Our culture has been enriched by new waves of migration, including
from Asia one half of our Immigrants each year come from Asian
countries and by vastly Increased awareness of other societies.
From our diversity has come strength. Australia Is a rich multicultural
society, a much more worldly one and a peaceful one.
The arts have flourished: exposure to the world has stimulated them and
with that we have seen a reappraisal of who we are, a redefining of our
national Identity.
At the same time we have begun to confront difficult truths about our
own past. The dispossession of Australia's Indigenous peoples and the
destruction and brutality which accompanied It are notorious facts of our
history. In the past two years we have begun to set a few of the wrongs right.
Our courts have acknowledged the claims of Indigenous Australians to
land. And the Australian Government has responded by legislating to
protect those rights and to compensate Aboriginal Australians from
whom native title has Irrevocably passed.
In seeking reconciliation with indigenous Australians we are reconciling
ourselves with the past and, for all the legal and political turmoil It has
brought, I believe it Is making us stronger.
As the Japanese people well know, the process of change Is rarely easy
and never painless. But nothing Is so rewarding as a hard decision well
made. Change can be exhilarating as well as painful.
We have a lot more to do in Australia, but with such recent measures as
massive Improvement In our savings position through a new national
superannuation policy, the implementation of a national competition
policy, and a huge investment In training and education, we are doing it.
We are seeing the nation fundamentally re-shaped and re-oriented: reshaped
as a modern, multicultural society and a diverse, productive and
competitive economy; and re-oriented towards the countries of the
region In which we live and where we know our future so substantially
Ilies. For several years now, Japan like other developed nations Including
Australia has been faced with a complex range of economic, social and
political challenges.
As a friend and partner of Japan, Australia has a close and sympathetic
Interest In how Japan responds to these challenges.
While the process is some way from complete, Japanese politics and
society and the Japanese economy are undergoing an historic
transf ormation.
Political debate in Japan has Intensified In recent times. Some may see
this as a sign of uncertainty and a fissure breakdown In the cohesion of
Japanese society.
But I am firmly convinced It is a healthy development. Perhaps even a
necessary development.
Similarly, Japan's economy is gradually opening up to the world and to
the imperative of structural change, promoted by its own success which
Is reflected In the value of Its currency.
Japan has identifiled the challenges it must confront to remain a dynamic
mature economy in areas such as the taxation structure, the
agricultural sector, reducing government regulations and understanding
the key Ingredient of ministerial Initiative and political authority.
Japan has also been feeling out a role in regional and International
affairs which will better align its responsibilities with Its economic power
in the United Nations, In APEC and through its generous development
assistance. As a friend, Australia warmly welcomes these developments.
And as a friend, we feel we can encourage indeed urge Japan to
sustain the momentum of reform
Only a robust and responsive political system which promotes political
accountability and Is capable of generating genuine political leadership
can make vital decisions of reform.
We are confident Japan can build on the foundations of political reform
it has laid over the last few years to establish both healthy public debate
about policy ideas, and a bureaucracy which Is not only responsive to
government leadership but capable of acting creatively with Ministers.
Political parties have to work hard to make themselves relevant to the
needs and the aspirations of the Japanese people especially young
people like those at this university. Cynicism about the political process
is not unique to Japan, but It Is corrosive wherever it occurs:
It dims a country's vitality and diminishes its faith in itself.
I have no doubt that Japan's young people want to make a contribution,
just as I know Australia's do. It Is not good enough to meet their doubts
with cynicism of our own, or to attempt to sell them stale goods from
another age.
It Is Incumbent on our generation, if not to f Ire their Imagination, then at
least to give them an environment where the Imagination can flourish
where the future can be imagined.
We have no greater responsibility than to give our young people reason
for confidence and optimism. Nothing short of that will release the
human potential on which the future depends.
Above all, it Is crucial that Japan's political and economic leadership
itself Is Infused with Imagination. to Imagine something better and to
craft the economic and social reforms which will make it a reality.
Success or failure In this will not only determine whether the Japanese
people are able to fully enjoy the high standard of living that they have
worked so hard to achieve: it will also determine whether Japan lives up
to Its full potential as a major financial and trading hub within the global
and East Asian economies.
Japan cannot rely on other countries to fix its exchange rate problems.
Only Japan can make the hard decisions needed to push ahead
vigorously with deregulation In order to release the energy It needs to
prosper as a mature economy.
Only Japan can tackle the structural problems which obstruct better land
utilisation and control the amount of savings that Is Invested In housing
and other social infrastructure.
Australia, like all Japan's foreign partners, wants Japan to engage In
large-scale deregulation and economic reform because we know It will
Improve our access to your markets.
But the main stimulus for reform of this magnitude cannot come from
abroad. It must come from a conviction within Japan itself that this Is the best
way to break out of the current cycle, and the best way to improve the
economic and social well-being of Japan and its people.
I have no doubt that the wisdom which underlies Japan's phenomenal
success In the past 50 years will prevail again; that the people
themselves who are the source of Japan's great strength will
accommodate the change and embrace it.
Japan has one of the best educated, most innovative and hardestworking
populations in the world.
It Is no less a strength of yours In the present circumstances that the
Japanese people are committed to democracy; or that they are
generous enough to make Japan one of the world's largest aid donors.
And their stoicism is legendary I need only mention the dignified
resolve with which the people of Kobe have set about rebuilding their
city and their lives since the terrible earthquake.
Knowing this about the Japanese people, no one can ever doubt that
they will make these crucial reforms and profit by them.
Some argue that Japan's social and cultural traditions stand In the way
of far-reaching political and economic reform. I am sure that this Is not
the case. I have no doubt that, on the contrary, Japan's traditional
values and Identity will be a source of strength In seeing through
reforms. So will the national cohesion, that sense of national purpose and
community for which Japan Is renowned.
Japan's sheer economic weight should also provide Japan and Indeed
the world with cause for confidence about Japan's future. We hear a
lot about the growth rates of Asia's emerging economies.
But It Is important to remember that, at today's exchange rates, Japan's
economy still constitutes over 70 per cent of the whole East Asian
economy. An economy of that size will maintain its Impact on the global
economy and continue to command global attention and respect.
Japan has always been and remains a driving force behind the Asia-
Pacific region's economic Integration, It remains for many countries the
model. A heavy responsibility accompanies this Influence: Japan's weight In the
International economy means that policy decisions taken here have farreaching
effects.
It also means that Japan's reform efforts should enjoy the support of Its
friends in the international community. Far from resenting Japan's
economic success, I am sure the world wants to see it continue. It Is a
balanced equation: Japan needs the world, and the world needs Japan.
That is why I am concerned about the present trade dispute between
Japan and the United States. This is not an easy issue and I understand
some of the frustrations on both sides.
But I would urge both sides to look beyond their present differences and
consider the ramifications not just for themselves and for smaller
trading countries like Australia which stand to get caught In the crossfire
but, more Importantly, for the entire Asia-Pacific region.
The US-Japan relationship is a linchpin of regional stability and
prosperity. The US-Japan Security Treaty Is absolutely fundamental to
the security of the Pacific and more widely.
Quite simply, no-one can afford to allow bilateral trading differences
between these key Asia-Pacific partners to jeopardise any part of
political and security structure of our region or to imperil the sense of
regional community which is now emerging.
The last countries to countenance this should be Japan and the United
States themselves.
And, of course, no one can afford the economic consequences of a
prolonged Japan-US trade dispute.
I believe these are key reasons for Japan and Australia's shared
commitment to APEC as the primary vehicle for regional economic cooperation
and Integration and, In particular, to implementing the APEC
leaders' historic agreement In Bogor last year to free regional trade and
investment. APEC Is, In many respects, tailor-made to meet Japan's Interests. A
former Japanese Prime Minister told me that Japan of all countries
stood to benefit the most from APEC. I would now go further and say
that Japan, for Its own economic and strategic interests, has to ensure
that APEC succeeds.
APEC provides a means for Japan to manage its trade problems with the
United States In a way which will strengthen the International trading
System.
APEC provides a regional framework In which governments can take the
hard decisions on economic deregulation and structural change.
Because this growth will always be able to show something In return a
reciprocal benefit.
This will help to ensure further opening of markets and continued high
growth rates in the region and thus enable structural adjustment to take
place In a multilateral context where everyone is a winner.
In a period when there seems to be no enthusiasm In Europe or the
United States for further global trade liberalisation, APEC Is the only
body In the world which can act as a catalyst for a new global round.
In helping to meet these objectives, APEC provides a multilateral
framework, bringing Japan together with the United States and China in
a way which emphasises their common interests in regional stability and
prosperity. APEC can multilateralise the interests of these three great
states in the Asia-Pacific.
Japan has an unprecedented chance to take the reins of leadership
when it chairs the APEC leaders' meeting in Osaka. If it siezes the
chance it will secure its interests.
It is essential that we agree in Osaka on a comprehensive action plan for
implementing the historic decisions we took in Bogor last year.
This should, in my view, not only map out in as much detail as possible
how we each plan to meet our free trade and investment commitments
by 2010 or 2020, but also include concrete steps to address
impediments to trade and investment in the APEC region.
Our business communities now rightly expect APEC now to deliver real
results. This meeting points to a future in which all countries have a common
interest in peace and stability. Above all else, it demonstrates how far
the region has come in the 50 years since the war ended indeed how
far it has come in the last five years.
You can be assured of Australia's full and active support on this.
Australia has been delighted to play a role in the creation of APEC and
its transformation into an executive body without parallel In the region.
Australia also has confidence in Japan's capacity to take on a more
active independent international role beyond the region.
However great the temptations to resist the tides of globalisation and
economic integration, the logic of Japan's economic stature, its central
place in the international trading system, its importance as a source of
investment and technology and its post-war record as one of the most
democratic and stable countries in Asia, make it inevitable that Japan's
international role will grow.
It is for that reason that Australia firmly supports permanent Japanese
membership of the United Nations Security Council.
For while Australia sees Japan remaining a central player in Asia, we see
Japan's links outside Asia particularly with the United States, but also
with Europe as fundamental to its future role. As a trading and
investing economy, Japan has long recognised its critical interest in the
maintenance of an open international trading system.
Japan will remain pivotal to regional economic integration. But it will
also be a vital force for continuing global economic integration.
So Japan can be confident that its friends want it to play an important
role in the world.
And those of you here today who have personal experience or
understanding of the unique partnership between our countries will
know that Australia is one of the best friends Japan has.
It Is entirely appropriate to enthuse about the bilateral relationship
between Japan and Australia, but we cannot take for granted what we
have achieved together over the last fifty years.
During this visit I hope to highlight this unique and dynamic partnership.
But having emphasised the value of our relationship, I also want to make
people think hard about what we have to do to sustain Its momentum
and vitality.
This demands that we build on the traditional complementarities
between our economies and find new areas for prof itable co-operation
as our economies evolve.
There Is no doubt about Japan's critical Importance to the Australian
economy. Japan was the earliest Influence on Australia's reorientation
towards Asia. In the late 1940s and early 1950s Japan took just 5 per
cent of Australia's exports.
By the mid-i 960s Japan had become Australia's largest overseas
market. Today Japan takes 25 per cent of our total exports.
Today, Japan Is by far Australia's largest trading partner and Australia is
Japan's third-largest source of Imports. Last year our exports to Japan
were worth $ 16 billion.
Bilateral Investment links between Australia and Japan have also been
extremely important, particularly for Australia's economic development.
Japanese Investment In Australia stands at just over $ 50 billion. And
Japan is Australia's fourth largest destination for foreign investment.
For its part, Australia has made a crucial contribution to Japan's
industrialisation and economic advancement as a leading supplier of
industrial raw materials and energy.
We supply over half of Japan's coal Imports and a growing proportion of
its LNG needs. Australia is the single largest supplier of Japan's non-oil
energy needs. Australia, quite literally, has fueled Japan's post-war
growth. But our trading relationship has expanded beyond Its traditional focus
on raw materials and energy. As Japan exports more and more hightechnology
manufactures and services, new complementaritles with
Australia are emerging.
Where once Australia just fed Japan's smelters and furnaces, we now
increasingly feed Its people for example we supply 30 per cent of your
beef consumption and are the largest supplier of your Imported dairy
products. Last year, Australia supplied 183,000 tonnes of fresh rice of the highest
quality to the Japanese market. The opening of this market was a very
bold step for Japan, but because of the decline In your own farming
population, a vital one.
The Australian rice Industry among whose founders in the early years
of this century was a visionary Japanese farmer named Jo Takasuka
will be a reliable supplier of fresh rice between Japan's own harvests.
We want to build up this market.
" Food security" Is an Issue which has preoccupied Japan for many years,
and it Is an understandable concern.
But it Is a term which has to be redefined by the changes taking place in
Japan itself and by the realities of Interdependence In the global
economy. Food security for Japan needs to embrace the concept of reliable
suppliers of quality foods from non-Japanese sources. As the long
record of our economic relationship shows, you can have no better
partner In this than Australia. And it helps to have a partner with
complementary seasons.
Australia has become one of the most popular places for Japanese to
holiday. In 1994, nearly 730,000 tourists came to Australia f rom Japan,
and the Australian Tourist Commission estimates that more than one
million Japanese will be visiting Australia annually by the year 2000.
At the heart of the post-war expansion of Australia-Japan commercial
relationship lies a dense web of person-to-person ties. These are
essential to the future of our relationship. And there Is no better medium
for their expansion than education.
Australia now ranks behind only China and Korea ( and Japan itself) in
the number of students studying the Japanese language. In 1990, 50 per
cent more students were studying Japanese In Australia than In the
United States, the United Kingdom and Canada combined. In 1993 more
Australian year-12 students studied Japanese than any language other
than English. And Australia is unique in the proportion of primary and
high-school students studying Japanese.
Moreover, there is lively exchange of students between the two
countries. At the school level, Australia and Japan have exchanged
more than 10,000 students.
More Australians go to Japan to experience life in a Japanese secondary
school than from any other country. And more than 4,000 Japanese
students are studying In Australia at post-secondary level and above.
Australia's hosting of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games and Japan's
hosting of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games presents enormous new
opportunities to build a new range of personal, sporting and commercial
contacts between Australia and Japan.
It Is fifty years since the war ended. The friendship which exists between
us now was not then within the reach of anyone's imagination.
That It has grown Into relationship of such strength is a tribute to
Australians and Japanese who saw beyond the enmity and recrimination
and the vast cultural gulf dividing us.
There are always a few who see beyond the conventional wisdom of
their own generation: people who see the wave forming well before it
begins to break; who see necessity before it becomes oppressive and
who have the conviction to confront It, the wit and skill to make a virtue
of it. People who, like the founder of this great university, do not fear
change and welcome the future.
We must leave the way clear for people of vision. We have to resist that
conservative pressure which, with age and experience, tends to close
the eyes and the minds of every generation. We have to keep our
minds and our eyes open.
This relationship of ours is the product of such a way of thinking. And
that is how it will be sustained. Our friendship has been a source of
immeasurable good for both our countries. It can be so for generations
to come.
We must never undervalue it, never take it for granted, never cease to
encourage and expand it. We must remain open to each other and to
the opportunities which exist for us.
And we have to keep alive the faith and engagement of the young.
This has been the role Keio University for a very long time. It is why Keio
has been, and remains, such a vital part of Japan's modern history.
And that is why I am so honoured by this occasion.
ENDS
L