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in
the wake of today's WORLD EVENTS
•
Defense Spending: New U. S. –
Jopan lssue?
With the sagging dollar in need of help, Washington is
beginning to take a closer look at its defense spending in
Japan.
As of yet, the United $tates hasn't issued any outright
demands to Tokyo for direct or indirect financia! assistance,
but Japanese officials have noted that the pressure is
increasing.
The U. S. spends about $650 million per year to main–
tain its forces in Japan. Washington would like Tokyo to pay
for most, if not all, of this biU. In addition, U. S. officials
would like to see the Japanese Defense Agency greatly
increase its purchases of American weapons. This idea is
meeting resistance from the fiedgling Japanese armaments
industry, anxious to increase its share of the growing JDA
budget.
Many Japanese business leaders are bitterly angry with
their own government for yielding to American demands for
"voluntary limitations" on the sale of textiles to the U. S.
They are not about to sit quietly by and watch Washington
pressure Tokyo into an expensive defense cost sharing
program.
Prime Minister Sato has cooperated with Washington
throughout his tenure in office. And, analysts believe, he
would probably submit to U. S. pressure for defense cost
sharing. But it is no secret that Sato and his cabinet are on
politically unstable ground.
Chances are that the next Japancse Prime Minister won't
bow quite so easily to U. S. pressure on defense or any other
vital issue.
•
Coming Soon: German-Arab
Rapprochement?
When it comes to Middle East policy, West Germany
understandably, treads lightly. On one hand, Bono is faced
with the tremendous debt toward the Jewish people which
the German nation incurred during the pogroms of the Nazi
period.
Counterbalancing this is the reality of today's inter–
national relations. The German Republic depends on the
Arab world for 90 percent of the oil that fueJs its vast indus–
trial complex. This reality of the present is beginning to as–
sume the greater importance.
The man to watch in German-Arab relations is Hans–
Juergen Wischnewski, Bonn's chief of Arab affairs who is
also secretary-general of Chancellor Brandt's Social Demo–
cratic Party. Herr Wischnewski is on close terms with Egypt's
President Sadat. He has long advocated that Bonn has much
to gain economically and politically by restoring relations
with the Arab states. These relations were broken in 1965
when West Germany entered into diplomatic ties with Israel.
Herr Wischnewski's activities have earned him the oick–
name "Ben Wisch" in Israel.
That German-Arab relations may be warming up is illus–
trated by the fact that in early October, West Germany's For–
eign Minister Walter Scheel met in New York with a number
of his Arab counterparts and also with Abdel Khalek Has–
suna, secretary-general of the Arab League. The meeting was
followed a few days later by a visit to West Germany by
Mohammed Hassanein Heikal, the intluential editor of
Cairo's daily
Al-Ahram
and a close confidant of President
Sadat. Mr. Heikal conferred with Chancellor Brandt.
Of the ten Arab states that broke with Bono, two -
Jordan and Yemen- have already resumed ties. As a result,
substantial amounts of West German foreign aid have been
flowing to these two countries. The same is apparently p.r:om–
ised to any other Arab state that will folJow suit.
All this is not being met with unconcern in Israel. Is–
raelis have long felt that the best way for Germany to repent
of its past is to continue strong support for the Jewish state.
But the Germans may be starting to see it differently. There is
much talk in Bono of "normalization" of its relationship
with Israel. The news magazine
Der Spiegel
candidly
reported in a recent issue:
"NormaJization of ties with Israel means the end of
the 'special relationship' by which past German governments
secretly shipped arms to Israel or renounced attempts of
rapproachement with the Arab World.
"For Bonn, normalization today means it can afford
open conflicts of interest even with Israel, and the respon–
sibility for the blood guilt of the past - neither denied nor
diminished- need no longer Jimit West Germany's freedom
of action in foreign affairs, at least not in principie."
While both Chancellor Brandt and Herr Scheel have
recently stated that Germany's efforts to restore ties with the
Arabs would not be taken at Israel's expense, Israelis find it
diffi.cult to see how it could be otherwise.