United States Has Many Disagreements with Its Allies: AnalysisThe Bush Administration has declared that it will regard its relations with its allies, particularly with European Union and Japan, as a pillar in its foreign policies. In fact, however, there exist many problems between the United States and its allies. Europe and Japan have obviously different views on a series of major issues from that of the United States.The contradictions and differences between Europe and the United States have never been so prominent as they are at present. As President Bush paid his first visit to Europe, the general public of EU expressed strong anti-US sentiment, EU leaders were disobedient to the United States over the crucial issues of security and environment. European allies of the United States do not want to remain the "second-class countries" under US protection and sandwiched between US-Soviet antagonism during the Cold War age, rather, they want to form a common foreign policy on the basis of unified economies and establish an armed force which is at least relatively independent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and is capable of handling Europe's own security affairs. Proceeding from their own conditions, they do not agree to bring their own economic models closer to that of the US economy, their views on certain issues are quite different from that of the United States, particularly over the question concerning their attitude toward death penalty and the management of firearms. Compared with European allies, Japan has all along been much more submissive to the United States, because Japan has the tradition of "dissociating itself from Asia and joining Europe" and "breaking away from Asia and joining the United States", moreover, today's Japan mainly relies on the United States for its security. Nevertheless, over some major issues, Japan is almost in disagreements with the United States. Apart from the problem of environmental protection, on the crucial issue concerning the United States' NMD system, Japan, after thinking over the question again and again, has finally declared recently that it will not join the system for the time being. Undoubtedly, this is a positive, major decision of the new Japanese government. There are a variety of deep-seated reasons for the disagreements between Japan and the United States. The Kyoto Protocol reached in Japan is denied by the new American government. As the only country that has so far been subjected to nuclear weapon attack, Japan's domestic peace forces are dissatisfied with the Bush Administration's development of a missile defense system. What is more, over 50 years have passed since World War II and 10 years since the Cold War, Japan still has to allow US armed forces, which have consistently brought Japan trouble and harm, to linger on its own territory, hurting Japan's feeling of national self-respect. The Cold War has been over, and Europe had long ago ceased to be the Europe in those years, Europe cannot accept the American-style single polar world. An initial constructive strategic partnership has been formed between EU and Russia, and Russia has begun to realize its own European nature. Europe wants to settle its security problem on its own, it needs the cooperation and support of the United States, but it does not need America's arrogant airs. There exist basically common interests between Europe, Japan and the United States, it is logical for the United States to strengthen its relations with its allies, but the interests of Europe and Japan are, after all, not entirely the same as that of the United States. Therefore, under changed conditions, the United States underestimates the differences between Europe, Japan and itself and constrains its allies to accept the American unilateral-ism, judged from the situation of this year, it will, at least, bump its head against the neither hard nor soft nails. This commentary, written by Pang Zhongying, appears in the Column "International Forum" on Page 3 of People's Daily June 21. |
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