As an individual, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has every right to air his views from his heart. However, as prime minister,
christianlouboutinclouds.com, Abe must allow his head to rule his heart. At the rate of what had been going on in Japan over the last few months under Abe's leadership,
burberrycloud, Japan is at risk of sliding deeper into debt, recession and isolation from its immediate neighbors.Abe must remember that it was the Cold War and the Korean War (1950-53) that saved Japan from complete economic collapse and helped end the almost seven years of military occupation of Japan by the US. It was because of the Cold War that the Americans decided that an economically strong and socially stable Japan would be more useful to their war efforts in the Korean Peninsula and Vietnam.Abe should realize that Japan's relationship with the US can never be equal. In the eyes of the US elites, no country, including democracies, should be allowed to surpass the US economically and militarily. Japan can only be a subordinate partner serving the selfish interests of the Americans. The 1985 Plaza Accord that put the brake on the rising Japanese economy was the work of the Americans and the Europeans, not the Chinese.During the late 1980s, I was working in a Japanese company in Singapore trading in electronic components. Part of my job was to source for electronic components from factories in Singapore and Malaysia so as to sell them to Japanese manufacturers like Toshiba and Sony in Japan. Such a business model was made possible at that time not because of a lack of quality components suppliers in Japan, but because of an effort by Europe to limit the economic power of Japan. The then European trade policy was to impose restrictions on Japanese exports to the European market. As such, Japanese manufacturers were forced to use components elsewhere to reduce the proportion of a product with "Made-in-Japan" components.Abe should note that the only reason Japan managed to crawl out of the curse of the 1985 Plaza Accord and grow its economy after two decades of stagnation was the positive engagement with a rapidly rising China.According to the 2011 IMF report, since 2007, China has contributed much more in to global growth than any other country. China has replaced Japan in 2011 as the world's second largest economy.China is in the process of restructuring its economy from the model of export orientation to domestic consumption. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in an international forum in Beijing earlier this year, "China is likely to import as much as $10 trillion worth of commodities and services in the next five years."If the prediction of the IMF and many other international agencies is accurate, China will surpass the US as the world's largest economy between 2016 and 2019. Therefore, it would be irrational for Japan to miss such a large window of opportunity over a few islands that former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping proposed putting aside for future generations to sort out.The recent escalation of the island disputes between Japan and China has resulted in a drastic drop in the sales of Japanese brands across China including the number of Chinese tourists to Japan. While Japan's economy has been in a straight contraction in the last three consecutive quarters, China continues to grow at a rate of 7.5 percent. The reality presented in front of Abe is straightforward.Chua Wei Ling, freelance journalist based in Oxenford,
louboutin, Australia
Yet at the moment, the golf world seems more consumed with whether Garcia apologized to Woods face-to-face or via Twitter for his recent off-handed,/a>, Australia
Yet at the moment, the golf world seems more consumed with whether Garcia apologized to Woods face-to-face or via Twitter for his recent off-handed,[url=http://www
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