Political Economy Of Japanese Agricultural Trade Protection

Agricultural products trade not only relates to a country's economic interests, but also relates to political interests, including lots of major issues, such as the national food security, rural development and farmers' income, national political and social stability,and so on.Therefore, all countries need to implement different degree of protection to the trade of agricultural products.Japan is one of the countries with the highest level of agricultural products trade protection in the world, and it's political tendency of protection on farm products trade is the most serious, so the research on agricultural products trade protection in Japan has the typical significance.At the same time, Japan is China's most important agricultural product export market, and Japan less cultivated land, agriculture is a weak industry, these characteristics are the similarity with us.In view of this, research on agricultural trade protection of Japan have the important meaning for enhance the competitiveness of China's agricultural products export to Japan and for China's adjustment to the agriculture and agricultural product of trade policy and revision on laws and regulations.Due to the agricultural products trade protection has not only economic reasons, but also there are political reasons,so the research on agricultural products trade protection needs to economics trade theory as the basis, and the analysis model should be from the political process of trade policy to construct.The theoretical construction part, mainly by the trade protection theory as the theoretical basis, to the political economy of trade policy as a theoretical tool, the political economy of trade policy in existing "interest group-government " fundamental analysis model to be improved, adding two new factors,one is WTO multilateral trade rules,and the other is regional trade agreement, so formation of "domestic interest groups-government-WTO multilateral trade rules-regional trade agreement " four-dimensional analysis model, as the theoretical framework for further analysis.The analysis part of this paper, firstly introduces the economic background of Japanese agricultural trade protection, and then introduces the history of Japanese agricultural trade protection policy, the evolvement of Japan's agricultural trade protection policies are divided into three stages, each stage the main contents and policy characteristics and causes of agricultural products trade protection are introduced. Through the retrospect of more than a century of Japanese agricultural products trade protection policy change, can discover the overall trend of Japanese agricultural trade protection has been strengthened, even if is reached in the WTO "agricultural agreement", world agricultural trade liberalization trend emerging circumstances, agricultural products trade protection degree of Japan is not diminished.Then the article analyses the effect of Japanese agricultural trade protection, and points out that its overall effect is not ideal, despite the progress of agricultural technology, increasing the income of farmers, short-term and local food safety effect, but there is a heavy cost, government protection makes the low efficiency of small business to maintain, increased the financial burden, the rent-seeking and corruption has become more serious, high prices of agricultural products and import restrictions make consumer interests and other industry exports have suffered damage, in order to protect their own agriculture, Japan always excluded or exceptions on agricultural in FTA/EPA negotiations, which has threw Japan in the passive position in the international economic cooperation.Japan already in this curious cycle:the lack of competitiveness of agricultural need trade protection, and a high degree of trade protection lead to agriculture more competitiveness.According to the normal logic, the Japanese government should actively carry out the reform policy, but the Japanese government did not take substantive reform measures, but to find excuses for protection, to delay the opening agricultural product market.So, why the Japanese government is so stubbornly adhere to the implementation of protection policies, in addition to agriculture is the Japanese vulnerable industries require a certain degree of protection, and what is deeper reason?For an answer to the riddle, the paper use the formed analysis model to analyses respectively the influence of Japanese agricultural trade policy decision-making mechanism, the Japanese agricultural interest group, international agricultural product trade rules and East Asian regionalism on the formation of Japanese agricultural trade policy, and then use the partial opening of Japanese rice market and it's difficult choice to join in TPP as empirical analysis examples to show how the influencing factors work on the game process.Based on analysis of the political economy, the author found the origin of Japanese stubborn attitude to protect agricultural product trade:Japan is conducive to rural electoral system is the source of Japanese farmers political power; JA' strong ability on organize farmers and the close contact with the government make the peasants'political forces into full play; farmers, JA, agriculture and forestry family members (ruling party), and Ministry of Agriculture formed stable interest chain to make protection policy to continue indefinitely, of course, this is the case that there has no influence in the outside.The reality is that, in today's world agricultural trade policy will be subject to international agricultural trade rules and be influenced by national interest group, Japan is no exception.In order to comply with the trend of international agricultural trade liberalization, Japan must carry on the reform of agricultural trade protection policy.The author thinks,if Japan wants to make fundamentally reform on the agricultural trade protection policies, it must break the interests chain between farmers, JA, agriculture and forestry family members (ruling party), and Ministry of Agriculture, so to completely reform the conducive to rural constituency system, weakening the JA' organization ability on farmers and the impact on the government, prevent the exchange of interests between politicians and bureaucrats.For Japan, this reform is very difficult to do in the short term, the reason is the political situation in Japan is still in the period of adjustment, namely Japan' condition to resolve domestic agricultural protection issue is not mature.From Japan' attitude is always take delay and avoid in the WTO multilateral negotiations on agriculture and FTA/EPA negotiations, we can see that Japan has no determination to reform its agricultural products trade protection fundamentally, perhaps only interest in economy and diplomacy really threaten the core interests of Japan, politics decision condition on completely destroyed the agricultural interest structure of domestic will mature.Based on the above analysis, the author made the following judgments:first of all, from the agricultural interests structure of Japan short-term won't produce big change, can assert that the high level of agricultural products trade protection will not change in the short term, face the pressure from home and abroad, on one hand, Japan will continue to reform the basic agricultural policy, on the other hand will continue to take the strategy to delay and avoid of the agricultural product market opening; secondly, by the Japanese agriculture is a weak industry status will not change in a short time, can assert that Japanese dependence on international agricultural product market in the short term will not change. We should seize the opportunity to expand agricultural exports to Japan, at the same time to take an objective look at the agricultural products trade protection in Japan, for the successful experience we should learn, its policy mistakes should be alert, a good grasp of agricultural products trade protection degree, avoid into the protective circle.