He will find it more difficult to survive and continue to make the changes that promise more jobs for Americans who export to Japan, and a better standard of living for the Japanese. The most diplomatic way to get out of a bad situation is to change the subject. Clinton can steer clear of the situation his advisors have placed him in with Japan by changing the subject from managed trade to the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons program. There is excellent reason to shift the focus of the February 11 meeting to this serious issue. All of this, in turn, would hurt the entire region's rosy economic future.
Money spent on weapons does create jobs.
But it also generates legions of defense procurement bureaucrats and forces otherwise competitive private companies into a debilitating dependence on government work and military contracts. Such an occurrence in Asia would take the economic wind out of the western Pacific rim's sails. And, the U.S. would suffer too as the fastest growing market for its goods and services shifted its attention to weapons, as well as the means to deliver and defend against them. Bill Clinton should use this week's summit with Morihiro Hosokawa to discuss America and Japan's common interest in addressing North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Urge Hosokawa quietly to cut off as much as possible the flow of cash from people of Korean ancestry living in Japan to their relatives in impoverished North Korea.