Essay

A ‘special’ relationship

By Anthony Fensom

Couples have “special” relationships. Families do, too. But can countries be extra special friends as well?

In mid-July, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Australia, the first official visit by a Japanese leader since 2002. During his trip, both Abe and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the two countries as having a “special relationship.”

“Japan is a very, very close friend of Australia,” Abbott said.

Abe told the Australian Parliament that a “special relationship” had been born. “We will now join up in a scrum, just like in rugby, to … safeguard peace,” he said, referring to the sport popular in Australia.

The two leaders signed trade and defense agreements, in a sign that the two countries are indeed moving closer together.

Yet the “special relationship” term is not new in diplomacy. Britain’s Winston Churchill used the term in 1945 to describe the relationship between Britain and the United States.

Japan may be said to have a special relationship with the United States, too.

Abbott has also called Indonesia a “good friend,” while Australia has long been an ally of the United States and Britain.

As Japan security analyst Donna Weeks told this author, “You can have several special relationships as a country, and they’re all special for different reasons.”

A recent poll in Australia by the Lowy Institute, which measures how Australians feel about other countries using a “thermometer” metaphor, found Australians were warm toward Japan, at 67 degrees on a scale from 0 to 100 degrees. That’s near the level Australians feel about traditional Western allies like the United States, at 71 degrees, and ahead of China, at 60 degrees.

But does this make Australia and Japan “best friends forever,” or BFFs?

As James Cotton, an emeritus professor of international relations at the University of New South Wales, told the Australian Institute of International Affairs, “nations do not have ‘best’ friends … the best that can be hoped for is understanding and shared interests.”

Psychologists say we choose our best friends because we have common interests. There is give and take between good friends and a high degree of intimacy.

Political ties are important, but as Weeks says, person-to-person contact is vital.

“The really deep person-to-person exchanges we have are really important. Abe referring to (Australian Olympic swimmer) Dawn Fraser the way he did, and recognizing how Australia assisted with the tsunami, these are really important aspects” of his speech, she said.

As Weeks suggests, the two nations now have a high degree of interaction. In 2013, a record high 244,000 Australian tourists visited Japan, with nearly 330,000 Japanese visiting Australia.

Can Australia and Japan stay “BFFs”? Like any special relationship, only time will tell.

「特別な」関係

ハイペースで外遊を続けている安倍首相。７月に訪問したオーストラリアでは、トニー・アボット首相と「特別な関係」であることを強調したが、この「特別な関係」とは一体どういうことだろう。

The Japan Times ST: August 8, 2014