Foreign-policy makers are relieved -- at least for now -- that their long-standing policy of "constructive engagement" toward Myanmar survived its biggest potential challenge with Thursday's release of prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from 12 days of effective house arrest.

Had the incarceration of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate dragged on for much longer, Japan would have been forced to review its approach toward the impoverished Southeast Asian country, which has hitherto been much softer than that of the United States or Europe.

On Sept. 2, the military forcibly returned Suu Kyi to her Yangon home, ending a nine-day roadside protest that had begun when security forces stopped her car just outside the capital.