THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN....

America's ties with Japan are strong, close, and full of promise. Tonight I want to describe the importance of this relationship -- for America, for Asia and for the world.

This occasion comes as a welcome opportunity.

The tragic end of our involvement in Indochina has stimulated questions, among Asians as well as Americans, about the future of United States foreign policy. But paradoxically, these events have also driven home the recognition, among Asians as well as Americans, of how essential a strong and purposeful United States is to global peace and progress.

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As we and Japan seek to shape the future together
we face a world profoundly different from that in which
our relationship was forged.

The bipolar world of the 1950's and 1960's has
disappeared. The re-emergence of Europe and Japan,
the rivalry among the communist powers, the growth
of military technologies, the rise and increasing diversity
of the so-called Third World, have created a new inter-
national environment -- a world of multiple centers of
power, of ideological differences both old and new,
clouded by nuclear peril and marked by the new imperatives
of interdependence. American policy has sought to
shape a new international structure based on

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equilibrium rather than domination; negotiation rather than confrontation; and a consciousness of global interdependence as the basis of the ultimate fulfillment of national objectives.

As the members of this Society have long recognized, the relationship between the United States and Japan is crucial to this design. It is central to the continued stability, progress and prosperity of the international community and it is fundamental to American policy in Asia.

-- Our Treaty of Mutual Security and Cooperation reflects an enduring sense of common interest in the peace of Asia. Through many changes

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in conditions and alignements, our ties
have proven their continuing and indispensable
validity for our two countries and for global
stability.

-- As maritime trading nations with complementary
economies, the United States and Japan account
for 52 percent of the production and 26 percent
of the trade of the entire non-Communist,
industrialized world. We possess the world's
most dynamic economies. As economic superpowers,

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our respective policies profoundly affect
each other and the world at large.

-- Our nations share an enduring commitment,
to the political values of free societies, and an
abiding concern for the well-being of our fellow
men.

Japan's evolution over the last thirty years into a major
factor on the world scene inevitably has brought changes in
the style of our relations even as the community of our mutual
interests has grown. Adjustments in United States economic
policies and a new policy toward China in 1971 led to painful
but transitory misunderstandings to which -- let us be frank --
our own tactics contributed. We have learned from experience;

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these strains are behind us; our policies are moving in harmony
in these areas; our consultations on all major issues are
now close, frequent and frank.

U. S. -Japanese bilateral relations, I am pleased
to say, have never been better in thirty years.

It is a fitting symbol, therefore, that in his first
trip abroad as Chief of State, President Ford visited Japan
last November. We look forward to the visit of His Imperial
Majesty, the Emperor, whose presence will lend further dignity
and strength to the ties between us. And before the
Emperor's arrival, Prime Minister Miki will come to
Washington for consultations on the foreign policy and
economic issues facing our two countries.

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I cannot refer to this series of consultations
without paying tribute to Eisaku Sato, a great leader of
Japan, a great champion of Japanese-American friend-
ship, and one of the world's great statesmen. I sought
his counsel on each of my five visits to Japan, even after
he had left office. I was privileged to know him
as a colleague and a personal friend. I shall miss
him greatly.

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## The Foundations of Our Partnership

Japan and the United States have known each other for a century and a quarter. Our relationship has passed through an incredible range: from curiosity to competition, conflict, occupation, reconciliation, to alliance and mutual dependence. This long, complicated and varied experience has taught us that our close association is more essential than ever, and that the dramatic differences in national styles and situations are a strength to be husbanded rather than a weakness to be overcome.

We Americans are a disparate people--heterogeneous in our origins, constantly striving to redefine what we have in common. Japan, on the other hand, is a country of unusual cohesiveness and homogeneity. For Americans, contracts

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and laws are prime guarantors of social peace. The Japanese
depend less on legal and formal rules to preserve social
harmony than on the quality of human relations hips and on
unstated patterns of consensus and obligation.

Our language is designed for categorization. It invites
logical distinctions and value judgments. The Japanese have
lived together for so long and shared so many experiences
that they frequently communicate through intuition and
indirection, occasionally without need of words. The Japanese
prize form and mood, as well as content. We honor content
above all, and frequently exhibit impatience with emphasis on
style.

The United States is blessed with vast land and ample
resources; abundance is taken for granted. Japan is a great

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industrial power; but its prosperity is more recent and,
because of the dependence of its industry on imported
food, energy, raw materials, and external markets, more
vulnerable.

In foreign policy, the United States has assumed global
security responsibilities. Japan has devoted its energies to
the growth of its economy and commerce, while -- alone among the
world's great powers -- foreswearing large military forces or
assertive diplomacy.

Communication between cultures is always difficult. But
the United States and Japan have achieved an increasing
sensitivity, sometimes fascination, with our national
differences. Our two nations supremely demonstrate the
possibility of close and enduring association between two

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different cultures and two distant continents. It is an extraordinary achievement, and we too often take it for granted.

We formed a political alliance and security relationship in a period of Japanese dependence. War had shattered her economy and political system. Japan accepted American leadership in that difficult period and only gradually began to reassert an autonomous diplomacy and active political involvement in the world around her.

Japan's emergence as a major economic power and international force has substantially transformed our relations in recent years.

The reversion of Okinawa eliminated the last major vestige of the war from our bilateral agenda. We have made

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significant progress in removing the trade inbalance which
was so often an irritant in our relations. In response to
Japanese concerns, the United States has reaffirmed its
specific commitments as supplier and purchaser of important
goods and materials.

Our relationship which was forged by the necessities
of security has flourished as well on the other contemporary
challenges -- improving relations with the Communist
countries, advancing the prosperity of the industrial democracies
and building a new era of cooperation among all nations.

Our most immediate shared interest, naturally, is in
Asia.

The United States and Asia

The security interests of all the great world powers

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intersect in Asia -- particularly in Northeast Asia. China comprises the heartland of the continent. The Soviet Far East spreads across the top of Asia. The Japanese islands span 2,000 miles of ocean off the mainland. America's Pacific presence encompasses the entire region. Western Europe has important economic links with Asia and feels indirectly the effects of any disturbance of the equilibrium in the area.

Asia's share of the world's population and resources is immense. In the last two decades, the Asian-Pacific economy has experienced more rapid growth than any other region. It is here that the United States has its largest and fastest-growing overseas commerce. We have as vital an interest in access to Asia's raw materials as Asia has to

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our markets and technology.

The ties between Asia and America have a
deeper philosophical and human dimension. The
influence of American and the West stimulated the
transformation of much of Asia during the past 100
years. From the days of the New England transcen-
dentalists to the modern period, Asian culture and
ideas have significantly touched American intellectual
life, thereby reflecting the universality of human
aspirations.

The role of Asia then is potentially decisive for
the solution of the contemporary agenda of peace and
progress and the quality of life.

This is why, in spite of recent events, the United

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States will not turn away from Asia, or focus our attention
on Europe to the detriment of Asia. Our relationships
with Europe and Japan are equally vital; each is essential to
global peace and security. In the modern world the problems
and opportunities of each area overlap and are inseparable
from those of the other. Our fidelity to our commitments
will be as strong in one part of the globe as in the other.

Nor can we confine our Asian policy to Japan without
destroying the underpinnings of the US-Japanese relationship.
The interests that bind Japan to Asia are no less vital than
those binding it to America and the other nations of the West.
The value of our political and security relationship depends
on its contribution to a broad balance of security in Asia.

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This is decisive for Japan as well as for us.

The basic principles of America's foreign policy
find their reflection and necessity in Asia:

- First, peace depends on a stable global equilibrium:

While an effective foreign policy must reach beyond the
problem of security, without security there can be no
effective foreign policy. A world where some nations
survive only at the mercy of others is a world of dependence,
insecurity and despotism. This is why the United States will
continue to oppose the efforts of any country or group of
countries to impose their will on Asia by a preponderance of
power or blackmail.

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We have learned important lessons from the tragedy of Indochina--most importantly that outside effort can only supplement, but not create, local efforts and local will to resist. But in applying these lessons we must take care not to undermine stability in Asia and ultimately world peace.

We will permit no question to arise about the firmness of our treaty commitments. Allies who seek our support will find us constant. At the same time, if any partner seeks to modify these commitments, we will be prepared to accommodate that desire.

In fulfilling our commitments we will look to our

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allies to assume the primary responsibility for maintaining
their own defense, especially in manpower. And there is
no question that popular will and social justice are, in the
last analysis, the essential underpinning of resistance to
subversion and external challenge. But our support and
assistance will be available where it has been promised.

Specifically, we are resolved to maintain the peace
and security of the Korean peninsula, for this is of crucial
importance to Japan and to all of Asia. We will assist
South Korea to strengthen her economy and defense. But
we shall also seek all honorable ways to reduce tensions
and confrontation.

We place the highest value on our relationship with
our ANZUS partners Australia and New Zealand, and on

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our historic relationship with the Philippines. We will
maintain our treaty obligations throughout Asia and the
Pacific. And we welcome the growing influence of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations--Malaysia, Indonesia,
Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand--as a force for self-
reliance, stability and progress in the region.

A second basic principle of our foreign policy is
that peace depends ultimately on reconciliation among nations.
All of us--friends, neutrals or adversaries--exist on a
small planet threatened with extinction. The ultimate aim
of our alliances has always been to ease, not intensify,
divisions and tensions. We will continue our effort to
normalize relations with the People's Republic of China
in the spirit of the Shanghai Communique.

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Similarly, we will continue our effort to regularize and
improve our relations with the Soviet Union, and to make
further progress in the control of arms, especially strategic
arms.

We have no illusions. We recognize that our
values and social systems are not compatible with
those of the communist powers and may never be. But
in the thermonuclear age, when the existence of mankind is
at stake, there is no decent alternative to the easing of tensions.
Should these efforts fail, at least our peoples will know that
we had no choice but to resist pressure or blackmail. There
can be no conciliation without strength and security, but we

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would be reckless if we forget that strength without a spirit
of conciliation can invite holocaust.

New regimes have come to power in Asia in the
last few months. They have flouted international agreements
and flagrantly violated accepted international standards, and
that we cannot ignore. But we are prepared to look to the
future. Our attitude toward them will be influenced by their
conduct toward their neighbors and their attitude toward us.

-- Finally, peace depends upon a structure of
economic cooperation which reflects the aspirations of all
peoples. The problems of the world economy -- ensuring
adequate supplies of food, energy and raw materials to
consumers and markets and stable income to producers --

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require global economic arrangements that accommodate the
interests of developed and developing consumers and producers.

We have consistently taken the view that a necessary first
step is close cooperation among the industrialized countries.

On the basis of unity and mutual support, we welcome a
dialogue with the developing countries in a spirit of sympathy,
realism and cooperation.

These are the principles which guide America's
actions in the world and in Asia.

Japan's role and the U. S. -Japanese relationship can
be decisive.

The United States and Japan

The Challenge of Peace and Security. Japan's contribu-

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tion to a peaceful world is unique. Despite its industrial
prowess Japan elected to forego the military attributes of
great power status, limiting itself to modest conventional
self-defense forces, and relying for its security on the support
of the United States, and the good will of others.

In this framework, Japan has thrived. Its security
has been assured; its democratic institutions have flourished.
Its economy has achieved unparalleled growth, partly because
through much of this period Japan enjoyed assured access
to imported raw materials and food at reasonable prices.
Japan has been able to develop constructive economic and
political relations with its neighbors, thereby contributing
to regional stability and growth.

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The events of recent years have transformed this relatively simple universe. The interaction among the major powers has become much more complex than in the Fifties or early Sixties. The oil crisis of 1973 confronted Japan with its economic vulnerability. Today suppliers of raw materials are presenting a variety of new demands that are not easily accommodated in the context of existing world trade and monetary structures.

These changing circumstances have required both Japan and the United States to rethink old premises and devise new, creative approaches. By their nature, these problems require collaborative, not separate responses. Japan and the United States must relate national security

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to international reconciliation and national growth to
international cooperation.

**The Challenge of Reconciliation.** Both our countries seek to move the world beyond equilibrium toward reconciliation. The United States has attempted to normalize and improve its relations with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Japan has made the same effort. For some time the Japanese Government has pursued what it has described as "peace diplomacy" -- a diplomacy designed to ease Asian confrontations.

Japan normalized its relations with the Soviet Union in 1956; recently it has been intensifying its economic relations with that country. Japan has been a trading

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partner of the People's Republic of China for decades. In
1972 Japan granted full recognition to Peking and since then
has been broadening her bilateral relations. We have
welcomed these developments.

As each of us engages in this more complex interplay
among the major powers, we have faced a common problem:
How to preserve a sense of priority among our international
relationships? This Government has stated on many
occasions -- and I will state again -- that we make a clear
distinction between our allies and our adversaries.
"Equidistant diplomacy" is a myth. For us, Japan is not
an occasional interlocutor but a permanent friend -- a
partner in building a world of progress.

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Of course, we do not expect to pursue identical policies -- toward China, toward the Soviet Union, or toward all Asian issues. But we should seek to maintain compatible approaches. In our bilateral relations we should recognize a higher standard of mutual concern than normally obtains between states, accepting a greater obligation to consult, to inform, and to harmonize domestic and external policies that impinge on the interests of the other.

We believe that both our countries share this approach. To implement it, we have jointly developed channels for more intensive consultation and used them with growing frequency and frankness. The United States intends to propose a semi-annual review of policies at the

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foreign ministers level, alternately in Washington and Tokyo, to assess the present and to chart the future.

**The Challenge of Economic Cooperation.** The prosperity which Japan and America have achieved in the course of the past three decades is one of the great successes of the postwar world. The economic power we possess as a result imposes on us special responsibility for the health of the global economy and for its ability to satisfy the thrust of human aspirations. Today that responsibility is under severe challenge. A major recession, an energy crisis, global food shortages, unprecedented inflation, and a trend toward politicizing economic issues have subjected the world economy to

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serious stress.

We have three major objectives:

We must spur the stable growth of our own economies. We must strengthen cooperation among the industrialized countries. We must respond to the aspirations of the developing world.

All our objectives--domestic well-being, security, unity, relations with the Communist world and the developing nations--require economic strength and growth. Few can be realized by stagnating economies. The stability of our institutions and the self-assurance of our societies will benefit from the earliest possible recovery of sustained and non-inflationary economic growth.

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In the global economy, no nation can hope to achieve sustained growth by its own efforts alone. In a world in interdependence, the experience of thirty years has shown that the industrialized nations prosper or suffer together. Coordination of effort is essential for any economic objective--whether it be growth, energy, food, or raw materials--and also to maintain the conditions of well-being that underpin our political and security cohesion.

It is encouraging that over the last year the United States and its major partners are beginning to harmonize their national policies to combat recession and promote expansion. This was a central topic of the President's discussions in Tokyo last November. These consultations should be continued systematically and deal

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particularly with a common analysis of the requirements
of global economic growth.

We have no reason to apologize for the economic
system we have built since the war. It has spread progress
far beyond the industrialized world; in fact, it has contributed
to the political evolution and diffusion of economic power that
have now brought that system under challenge. Nevertheless
it is important to recognize that no set of economic relationships
can flourish unless its benefits are widely shared; it must be
perceived as just.

It is in the self-interest of the advanced industrialized
countries that global economic arrangements embrace the
aspirations of the majority of mankind. Reality makes us
a global community; if world order breaks down over

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economic conflicts, we face the specter of chronic

global civil war.

The Japanese Government, acutely sensitive to
this problem, has made an imaginative proposal to the
OECD: that the industrialized democracies undertake a
joint long-range examination of how the progress of the
advanced societies can be pursued to foster the progress
of the developing countries. We welcome this initiative
and have supported it; it is a subject of profound importance.
We will work closely with the Japanese government as the
study proceeds.

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Let me now turn briefly to a number of crucial economic issues, first in terms of Japanese-U. S. relations and then in terms of their impact on the global order.

Our two nations have a special concern and responsibility in trade. We have succeeded in resolving most of the bilateral problems in our trading relationship; we must now turn our attention to what we can jointly do to improve the global trading system which has nourished the world's prosperity for a generation. The current round of the Multilateral Trade Negotiations is called appropriately the Tokyo Round, for Japan's extraordinary dependence on commerce gives it a unique stake in the outcome. Our purpose in those talks must be to reach agreement on a reduction of tariffs; the removal

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of non-tariff barriers; assuring more reliable access to
supplies as well as markets; the renunciation of the use of
restrictive trade measures to cover deficits brought about by
recent economic difficulties. We must pay special attention,
as well, to the needs of the developing countries for improved
trade opportunities. With respect to all of these issues we
will proceed on the basis of close consultation with Japan.

**Energy** is a key element in the structure of global
interdependence. Each industrialized country has a
choice: to permit increasing vulnerability to arbitrary
price rises and political pressures or to impose conserva-
tion and spur the development of alternative supplies.
But individual efforts are almost certain to be ineffective.

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To reduce dependence, the major consumers must pool their efforts. This is why Japan and the United States have joined other industrialized countries in common programs to transform the energy market through the International Energy Agency. Together we are working to protect against new embargoes, to maintain financial solidarity, to conserve energy and to develop new sources. Japan's dependence on energy imports means that it cannot end its energy vulnerability by conservation alone. It has a major stake, therefore, in research and development of new sources.

For the next ten years nuclear energy will be increasingly important. The United States has pioneered the development of uranium enrichment processes for nuclear

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energy; Japan has been our largest market. As Japan's use of and dependence on nuclear energy expands, so too does our obligation to be a reliable supplier of fuel. The United States therefore pledges to continue to provide nuclear fuel, appropriately safeguarded, under long-term contracts. We will shortly add enrichment capacity to ensure adequate supplies to meet domestic and foreign needs.

Over the long term, more exotic energy sources must be emphasized. Our two countries are in a unique position to focus capital, skill and the most advanced technology in their development. We are ready to begin a large-scale

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energy research and development effort with Japan.

Japanese capital is welcome to participate and will receive in turn a proportional share of our expanded production of conventional and synthetic fuels.

But energy, of course, is not simply a technical issue.

It goes to the heart of our political relationship with the developing world. Japan has been insistent that we must proceed by cooperation rather than confrontation -- a view which we share. We and Japan together with the other members of the IEA are prepared to resume the dialogue with the energy producers, and search for cooperative solutions of mutual benefit.

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Japan and the United States both recognize the
desire of raw material producers for a dialogue that goes
beyond the issue of energy. Together with our other partners
in the IEA we have expressed our readiness to discuss these
concerns. We and Japan and other importing nations have an
interest in reliable supplies. The producers need long-term
stability of incomes for their development programs. It is in
the joint interest of producers and consumers to discuss
how drastic price fluctuations can be alleviated in order to
encourage timely investment in the development of new supplies
and to give real ity to the development plans of producers.
Both Japan and the U. S. have a political stake in promoting

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a healthy commodities trade which serves the interests
of both producers and consumers.

No issue on the economic agenda is more vital than
<u>food</u>. It is a dramatic example of the links between
bilateral and global issues and between relations with
our allies and relations with the developing world.

Japan is our largest market for agricultural
exports, and we are Japan's principal external provider
of food. The world's dependence on the United States for
foodstuffs imposes upon us an obligation to be a reliable
supplier. The United States therefore pledges that in
times of tight markets it will take account of the needs of
our long-time customers, such as Japan. We will seek to

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prevent a repetition of the unfortunate experience of
1973 when we were forced suddenly to restrict the export
of soybeans to Japan and other countries.

In a broader context, the United States and Japan
bear a special responsibility because they are among
the world's largest producers and consumers of
agricultural goods. We both are in a position to apply
technical innovation and skill to the expansion of food
production in developing countries. And as a hedge against
the feast-and-famine cycle of global harvests, we should
both help in creating an international system of nationally-
held grain reserves by the end of this year.

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These areas do not by any means exhaust our joint agenda. We attach great importance to our _scientific and technical exchanges_. This fall we expect to conclude a comprehensive joint review of all our exchanges. We will then be able to plan our efforts more efficiently and identify new areas for cooperation.

As two of the most advanced industrial nations, we have a special awareness of what progress has been made in the environment. The bilateral accord we are about to conclude for environmental protection is therefore of great potential importance not only for us but for others in the process of industrialization.

The talents and joint efforts of our two gifted peoples will surely be a unique contribution to the wider world community. To strengthen this bond, the United

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States intends to augment our *cultural relations* with
Japan -- an endeavor in which the work of this society,
and through it, the US-Japan Cultural Conference, has
been crucial. The Administration will seek to integrate
and obtain approval this year of proposals now before
the Congress to establish a Japan-United States friendship
fund which would make substantial new funds available
for cross-cultural programs between our two countries.

## Conclusion

The great Japanese writer Saikaku, who lived in
another era when the old order was breaking down and
the shape of things to come was not yet clear, said that
to experience "this modern age, this mixture of good and
ill and yet to steer an honest course to the splendors of
success -- this is a feat reserved for paragons."

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Our times demand as much of us. We may not be
paragons, but our assets are great. No two nations are
so different yet so close; none have a more direct and
wide experience of the best and the worst which the
modern age offers; and none have constructed a more
intensive and effective relationship of consultation and
cooperation. Our mutual interest has brought us
together, but our mutual understanding has enabled
our friendship to thrive to a degree which would have
been unimaginable two decades ago.

Americans and Japanese can take pride in what we
have achieved, and use it as a point of departure for
greater efforts still. We are seeking the crucial balance
between diversity and common purpose that is the best
hope for building a creative, just and productive

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international community. With the good will and good
sense, the high hopes and hard work which have so
far marked our journey we will continue to strengthen
our relations--for ourselves and for mankind.