A Study On The Change Of Japanese Diplomatic Policy - Making Mechanism In The Democratic Party

Since the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan established the “1955-yearsystem”, they have been in office except the temporary loss of power in1933.Entering the new century, Japan saw its stagnated economy and increasingly rigidpolicy decision-making system. In addition to impact brought by neo-liberalismeconomic strategy of Koizumi’s cabinet and conservatism and incompetence of LDPpoliticians, the public lost faith in LDP and were eager for changes. Eventually, thepublic opinions pushed LDP down the altar, and turned to cherish great hope of theDemocratic Party of Japan (DPJ) on the election held in August,2009.The DPJ brought fresh air to Japan’s politics, and its election slogan gave the publichuge expectation. After coming into power, DPJ made a big change about diplomaticdecision-making mechanism. However, the process of decision-making mechanismand the results this brought made a mass. Take the U.S. Military Relocation of theFutenma Air Station Issue as one of typical cases. Personal decision-makingcapability of decision-makers and incoordination within the mechanism were to beblamed. As the ruling party who got so much attention and support at the start of itsgovernance, DPJ was abandoned by the public after only3years, which has the directbearing on its series of failures of decision-making.After DPJ taking power, China-Japan relations have withstood drastic changes. Aseries of diplomatic incidents such as Collision Incident and so-called “normalization”of the Diaoyu Island had never happened in the governance of LDP, which fullyexposed the immaturity of diplomatic decision-making mechanism of DPJ. Threeyears of power is a valuable experience for DPJ. They have successes and failures.DPJ will demonstrate its great potential in the future.