Re: Japan and Indonesia

["Charles Jannuzi" <jannuzi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I wonder how nervous Japan is about its supply of LNG (liquified natural
> gas) coming out of Indonesia these days?

Energy supplies and energy prices are always a major concern in Japan. And
Indonesia has often been a trouble spot when Japan tries to assert any
leadership role at all in Asia.

>
> Seems as if Japan needs to keep Bush happy about its contribution to the
> war on terrorism, and yet is quite dependent on a Muslim country.
>
> Maybe Charles Jannuzi can >enlighten?

Japan foreign policy has to work in a myriad of smaller , less forceful
ways. This is why, for example, some Japanese aid workers were dismayed at
what happened in Afghanistan because they had only just won over the trust
of the Taliban and had started to do their work there.


As far as Indonesia goes, mostly Japan follows the US lead and then also
consults closely with Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

When some of the people in Indonesia started making specific threats to
target foreigners, I noticed that they specifically said Americans or anyone
who looked American.

It will be interesting to see if the Asian nations make a go of a common
currency, with Japan and the yen forming the basis. Most all the countries
of ASEAN plus  wanted it, but the US and the IMF shot it down, again and
again. After 1997, the writing was on the wall, so they more or less said,
o.k. we expect the dollar to stay cheap and we will plan to be able to
export at that level. So now the cheaper yen has them set for more turmoil.
Perhaps if he lives long enough to see it, PM Mahathir of Malaysia will get
his way, but it may only come after another crisis and everyone realizes
that the US and the IMF offer no solution.

Charles Jannuzi