International Herald Tribune
June 21, 2001
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan says that it would be appropriate to listen to China’s arguments carefully and hold talks to improve the situation in a calm and constructive manner with regard to China’s decision to slap retaliatory tariffs on Japanese autos, phones, and air conditioners.
What Mr. Koizumi should also do, aside listening to the Chinese, is listen to the voice of many Japanese consumers who were dead against any import safeguard measures on Chinese agricultural products to begin with.
If Mr. Koizumi is truly serious about initiating change in Japan, he should reform the inefficient agricultural sector, which has for too long been coddled by the Liberal Democratic Party at the expense of Japanese urban consumers.
KO UNOKI
Tokyo.
The writer is a senior fellow at The 21st Century Public Policy Institute.
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