B.E. TOKYO.
TUE 11 AUG 92 18:47.
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From the Ambassador
11 August 1992
Sir John Coles KCMG DUSS
FCO
My Dear John
CONFIDENTIAL
British Embassy Tokyo
DEVELOPING RELATIONS WITH JAPAN
1.
Perhaps I
Many thanks for your letters of 5 June and 28 July. was a little unkind about the long term plan. But it is certainly right to think matters through.
2. I agree on your first priority. We must get the Prime Minister here. We must get him established on the Japanese scene. The Japanese appear to agree. You will shortly see a set of telegrams on the programne. Our thoughts are not far apart. But the balance must be right. This is number one a political visit aimed at building a long term partnership. It also has a "next generation" component. Commerce must be solidly there but not dominate. We need to build up S & T.
Know-How Fund
3. I would forget about this. The Japanese are getting a bit tired of being plundered for European causes". This comes across from Owada as well as from my first contacts with editors of leading Japanese newspapers. There seen to be two general themes here, not always from the sas, sources. The first is that we have been paying too little attention to Asian concerns – a point made at Munich. The second (more from contacts outside government) is that we have gone a bit soft on Russia, influenced perhaps by (apparently voluntary but really inevitable) good behaviour at its western end: retreat from Eastern Europe, independence for the western republics, The Japanese see Russia as still militarily formidable, now highly unpredictable and with a number of the old structures still in place (vide their defence white paper); and în need of firm pressure to enforce the same behaviour at the eastern 'end. Helping Russia sort out its economic mess comes after, as historically for Japan herself. This ideology underpins the Japanese claim that the Northern Territories are only one aspect of an international problem.
CONFIDENTIAL
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