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Editorials
Monday, May 29, 2000Japan’s premier tries
to recover from gaffeWHEN Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a stroke early last month, Yoshiro Mori replaced him with assurances that he would continue Obuchi's policies without rocking the boat. But Mori has created problems for himself with a gaffe that struck a nerve in the Japanese body politic. He called Japan "a divine nation" and declared that the emperor is the center of the nation -- reminding many Japanese of the emperor worship that led to Japan's disastrous policy of aggression.The issue: Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has been criticized for saying Japan is "a divine nation" and the emperor is the center of the nation.
Mori has been dogged by reports that he was caught in a brothel while he was a college student and that he attended a wedding reception in 1995 in which one of the guests was a notorious gangster. He is suing the magazine that first printed the brothel allegations, and has denied knowing of the gangster's presence at the reception.
The comments and damaging reports have made Mori a liability for his party, the ruling Liberal Democrats. A cartoon in a prominent newspaper depicted two LDP leaders clamping their hands over Mori's mouth.
Mori's personal problems have resulted in a speedy plunge in public opinion polls, which is worrisome for the party because elections are coming up June 25. The party had hoped to attract sympathy votes for Obuchi, who died May 14, but that opportunity may have been squandered.
The LDP has maintained its hold on power for most of the years since the end of World War II. and currently heads a coalition that holds a majority in both houses of parliament. The opposition parties are unlikely to gain enough seats in the coming election to form a government without the LDP. However, its position may be weakened.
Trying to repair the damage, Mori has declared his support for the principle of separation of church and state. He said he regretted causing misunderstanding by his comments and insisted he did not mean that he supported the imperial system as it existed at the time of World War II.
"When I said 'divine nation', I didn't mean a specific religion," Mori told a news conference. "I have no intention of linking the emperor with god."
To an outsider, the remark may have seemed harmless, but to many Japanese this is a highly sensitive issue. Japan's World War II defeat was followed by a wave of pacifist sentiment that still dominates public policy. Reaction is usually swift and strongly negative to any public statements that hint at a revival of militarist sentiment.
As a professional politician, Mori should have anticipated the response to such a remark. His miscalculation has shaken confidence in his leadership. If the party experiences losses in next month's elections, his tenure as prime minister may be brief.
Coping with AIDS
THE AIDS epidemic in southern Africa has reached staggering proportions. According to the best estimates of U.S. experts, one-quarter of the entire population will die of AIDS. One fifth of South Africa's adults are already believed to be infected with the HIV virus, which leads to AIDS.
There is an equally fearsome potential for disaster from AIDS in South Asia and the former Soviet Union.
Recognizing that the global spread of AIDS is reaching huge proportions, for the first time the Clinton administration has formally designated AIDS as a threat to national security.
The AIDS epidemic could touch off wars and undermine democracies, which could have repercussions for the United States. And it could make it harder to contain the disease in this country.
In response, the White House has doubled its budget request to combat AIDS abroad to $245 million -- hardly an unreasonable request under the circumstances.
Not according to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Asked on "Fox News Sunday" whether he thought AIDS is a national security threat, Lott said no. "I guess this is just the president trying to make an appeal to, you know, certain groups," he added.
This was a nasty insinuation that Clinton was pandering to the homosexual vote, as if there was no chance that AIDS is something the United States should be concerned about. In fact, in southern Africa and the Asian subcontinent AIDS is being spread mostly through heterosexual contact.
It was a petty and irresponsible response to a question about a very real crisis. The Republican leadership will have to do better than that.
But Lott is not the only political figure who needs educating about AIDS. Take the new president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki. Rather than supporting the efforts of those scientists and politicians who are trying to help his people, he has attacked them.
MBEKI has voiced doubts that HIV is tied to AIDS and has discounted as ineffective the drugs being used to combat AIDS. He has accused his Western critics of mounting a "campaign of intellectual intimidation and terrorism."
Martin Schram, a columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service, commented that Lott and Mbeki may not have much in common but they are both in denial on the subject of AIDS.
Although the AIDS fatality rate has been dropping in the United States, there is no room for complacency about this disease. An epidemic is developing on the scale of the worst the world has ever experienced. The world must find more perceptive leadership than Lott and Mbeki are providing if it is to cope with this crisis.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
