The Economist Asia Edition - June 09, 2018

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24 Asia The EconomistJune 9th 2018


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2 be backing away from his all-or-nothing
talk. He says he no longer wants to use
loaded phrases like “maximum pressure”,
given how well things are going. As June
12th nears he has played down the pros-
pects of swift success on disarmament and
talked up the chances of a symbolic win,
involving a peace deal formally ending the
Korean war after nearly 65 years of uneasy
truce. That could lead to more protracted
negotiations on weightier issues—a pros-
pect Mr Trump has endorsed by calling the
summit a “get to know you” meeting.
According to the Chinese academic, Mr
Kim cannot give up his entire nuclear
weapons programme without pushback
from the armed forces, which do not trust
American security guarantees. On June
4th reports emerged that he had replaced
three senior defence officials, prompting
speculation that he was trying to quell op-
position to his new foreign policy.
Instead, one theory holds, Mr Kim will
offer Mr Trump a choice: either an immedi-
ate scrapping of missiles capable of hitting
America, or a slower, step-by-step pro-
gramme of the sort previously attempted,
leading to the eventual dismantling of the
North’s nuclear programme. That would
be a trap, albeit an open one. In all likeli-
hood, the step-by-step process would go
the way its predecessors have, with North
Korea benefiting from the easing of sanc-
tions before pulling out in time to preserve
its nuclear capacity. One possible fudge
(and source of future disputes) would be
for the North to give up nuclear weapons
but to retain nuclear facilities that could be
depicted as civilian. Mr Trump might find a
limited deal on missiles appealing, by con-
trast: it would allow him to say he had kept
his promise to protect America.
But a deal of that sort is a nightmare for
America’s closest allies in the region, South
Korea and Japan, who would be left at the

mercy of North Korea’s short- and medi-
um-range missiles, possibly tipped with
nuclear bombs. Such bald proof of Ameri-
ca’s willingness to sell out its allies, in turn,
would alter the strategic balance in Asia in
the long run. Friends would begin to ques-
tion whether America would stand up for
them in disputes withChina, for example.
The natural response would be to hedge
bets and to reach an accommodation with
China, dramatically diminishing Ameri-
ca’s clout in the region.
China can see several ways to end up
ahead after a Kim-Trump summit. If North
Korea reduces its nuclear capabilities, that
eases a security headache in China’s back-
yard. Even if North Korea may have partly
faked the recent demolition of an under-
ground nuclear testsite, asAmerican offi-
cials have claimed, China has reason to
cheer Mr Kim’s promise to stop nuclear
tests, which took place alarmingly close to
the border between the two countries. If
concessions from North Korea are
matched by a reduction in America’s mili-
tary presence in South Korea, “that would
be double good news for China,” says
Zhao Tong of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Cen-
tre for Global Policy, a think-tank in Beijing.
Even if Mr Trump balks and walks away
from negotiations, as he has repeatedly
threatened to, America’s interests are likely
to suffer. The summit seems bound to dissi-
pate the pressure on the North, especially
if it is seen to have failed because of Mr
Trump’sobstreperousness. Mr Zhao says
that as soon as Mr Trump agreed to meet
Mr Kim, America lost the bargaining pow-
er painstakingly built up over recent years
as international sanctions have tightened.
According to Mr Zhao, Chinese officials be-
lieve that even if the Kim-Trump talks fall
apart, “there is very little chance that the
UScould now launch a disarming military
strike.” South Korea would be the first to
protest against any such “bloody nose” at-
tack, and China and Russia would also be
loudly opposed, he predicts.
Nor do experts in the region see much
chance that North Korea will face addition-
al international sanctions, even if the sum-
mit ends in rancour. “North Korea can live
with the consequences of a failed summit
with all the sanctions staying in place.
That’s fine. Sanctions are not going to get
tougher,” says Mr Zhao. China, notably,
never really believed that sanctions alone
could bring about the American goal of
forcing North Korea to disarm, and only
strengthened them reluctantly. This week
it allowed flights to resume between
Pyongyang and Beijing. They had been
suspended last year at the height of ten-
sions over the North’s weapons-testing.
South Korea, too, seems likely to try to
preserve its detente with the North, even if
America reverts to hostility. Last week the
two sides agreed to reopen a liaison office
in the Kaesong industrial complex, which

was shut down after a nuclear test by the
North in 2016. South Korean companies
have been buying up land near the demili-
tarised zone that divides the two countries.
Some have set up their own offices for in-
ter-Korean co-operation. “The South Kore-
ans,” says Mark Fitzpatrick ofIISS,aninter-
national think-tank, “may well find ways
to work around sanctions or interpret
them in a way that allows them to re-up
economic engagement.”
In other words, Mr Kim has very little to
lose from the summit. Mr Trump may feel
that he, too, is likely to get good press from
the event. But America could come out
worse off, even if its president does not. 7

There’s a hunger for peace

O


NAsunnydayinMayitisnothardto
see why the Japanese island of Ishi-
gaki, some 2,000km from the capital, To-
kyo, is becoming a tourist magnet. This
year the crystal-watered, coral-reefed is-
land was named the world’s hottest desti-
nation by TripAdvisor, a travel website. It is
already popular with Asians from nearby
Taiwan and Hong Kong, and increasingly
with Westerners looking for a counter-
point to temple-touring and tea ceremo-
nies in Kyoto. Last year 1.4m foreign and lo-
cal touristsvisited, twice the number in
2013, when a new airport opened.
But there is trouble in paradise. Karry
Kanko, a bus company, has new vehicles
sitting idle for want of drivers. It has al-
ready cut some routes. Taxis are hard to
find. At Art Hotel the manager sometimes
doubles as a chamber maid. Guests are of-
fered a discount to forgo the daily cleaning
of their rooms, to reduce staffing needs.
“We are struggling,” admits Yoshiharu Ta-
kamine, who stepped down as head of the
local tourist-information centre in May.
In 2016 the Japanese government set
ambitious targets for foreign visitors as a
way to generate economic growth as the
population ages and shrinks. It reckoned
that tourists might also help to reinvigorate
struggling rural communities. There is defi-
nitely room for growth; inbound tourism
accounted forjust 0.8% ofGDP in Japan in
2016, compared with 2.1% in France and the
United Kingdom, 12.9% in Thailand and
17.6% in Cambodia. The plan is working.
The government is on track to reach its
goal, revised up this year, of 40m visitors (a
67% increase on 2016) by 2020, when Tokyo
will host the Olympics.
But the rapid growth has brought pro-

Tourism in Japan

No room at the inn


ISHIGAKI AND NIKKO
Foreigners are arriving faster than the
country can accommodate them
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