Former Vice President Walter Mondale addressed a symposium on US-Japan relations. The event at Macalester College was one of a series of Mondale Lectures on Public Service, a look back at the former Vice President's 50-year career.
Mondale spoke about his tenure as ambassador to Japan from 1993 to 1996, a period he described as being full of unexpected challenges....particularly a crisis involving North Korea's apparent attempts to develop nuclear weapons. He also looked ahead to the next 50 years of what he called the all-important US-Japan relationship.
Transcripts
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SPEAKER: Let me begin today's discussion by stating the obvious. The US-Japan alliance is crucial to both our nations, to Asia, and indeed, to the world. It is also, as we will see, a profoundly complex relationship. Over my many years in public life, I grew to appreciate the importance of this alliance and its role in maintaining peace in that region. But I must admit that when I finally arrived in Tokyo for my new job.
I had no idea how many challenges our alliances would face while I was there. In a strange way, the post-Soviet environment actually seemed to present greater uncertainties and challenges than the Cold War itself had. Without the Soviet threat, some even question whether the alliance was needed at all. One of my first challenges as ambassador was to bring balance back to our relationship with Japan.
I arrived in the middle of a big diplomatic shootout over trade issues like cars, cell phones, financial services. And these fights were spread all over the front pages. They were serious disputes that had to be addressed, but the battles were bruising. And after a particularly contentious cycle of negotiations in the auto sector, I remember writing perhaps my most important cable back home, urging our government to step back and let the wounds heal.
Meanwhile, other challenges, particularly on the Korean Peninsula, were reminding both of us about the security concerns that we shared. In 1994, the US and Japan began the process of reaffirming our security relationship. We needed a new public rationale for the alliance in the post-Soviet era, and a new roadmap for the future. The final product of this effort was a joint security declaration signed by President Clinton and Prime Minister Hashimoto in April of 1996 at what may have been the most successful US-Japan summit in post-war history.
This historic agreement came only after we weathered three serious challenges, a nuclear crisis in North Korea, a tragic and horrible rape of a young Japanese schoolgirl by three American servicemen in Okinawa in 1995, and Chinese military exercises in the Taiwan Straits in 1996. Now, we must look ahead. I believe our alliance rests on a very solid foundation, 50 years now of cooperation and friendship. It's really remarkable that the story of how America and Japan, who fought each other so bitterly throughout World War II, could shape a new alliance for peace and stability, which now stands as one of history's great success stories. We've done it.