The administration of President George W. Bush has disclosed major changes in U.S. military and diplomatic strategies. These include the stepped-up deployment of U.S. missile defense systems, the discontinuation of the "two major war" approach and the overhaul of policies toward North Korea.

New missile defense plans unveiled by Bush on May 1 represent an important change in the U.S. nuclear doctrine that is likely to affect the global balance of power in the 21st century.

At this juncture, Japanese diplomacy faces a crisis less than a month after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi launched his administration. Japan's national interest is at stake.

On May 8, Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka canceled a meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who was in Tokyo with a personal message from Bush. She missed an important opportunity to ask about the new U.S. strategies and to have Japanese views reflected in U.S. policies.

While former President Bill Clinton pursued two-pronged strategies of national missile defense and theater missile defense, Bush appears to have switched to coordinated missile defense to protect the U.S. mainland, U.S. forces overseas and U.S. allies.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Bush's missile strategies would "evidently impact upon global security and strategic stability." Few doubt that there will also be a major impact on Asia. Since 1998, Japan and the United States have been conducting joint technical research on theater missile defense. Japan's position is that despite joint research, it has yet to decide whether to join the U.S. in developing and deploying the system. If the U.S. plans to coordinate TMD and NMD, Japan must reconsider its position.

Bush said he is not presenting allies with unilateral decisions, adding, "We look forward to hearing their views and taking them into account." In dispatching Armitage to Japan as his emissary, Bush showed that he attached special importance to Japan as an ally.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Tanaka over the telephone May 2 that Armitage was going to visit Tokyo in conjunction with Washington's efforts to brief its allies on missile defense. Tanaka reportedly replied that she was looking forward to meeting with Armitage: That meeting never took place.

Naoto Kan, secretary general of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, asked Tanaka before the Lower House Budget Committee May 14 for an explanation. She denied canceling the meeting, saying it was never officially set up. Tanaka said schedules were being adjusted for the meeting and that she was on the verge of panic at that time.

Since taking up her post, Tanaka has had strained relations with ministry bureaucrats over disciplinary action taken against officials in connection with the misappropriation of secret funds for diplomatic purposes and over a personnel reshuffle. The reshuffle stemmed from intraministry policy disagreements over negotiation strategies with Russia on a bilateral peace treaty. Tanaka also reportedly canceled a plan to talk by telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

On May 8, Armitage called on Koizumi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Defense Agency Director General Gen Nakatani but was unable to meet with Tanaka.

On May 15, DPJ lawmaker Katsuya Okada asked Tanaka about the talks between Armitage and Japanese officials before the Lower House Budget Committee. Tanaka was unable to answer questions, saying she had not been briefed on the talks. Okada lamented what he called "the lack of diplomacy" in Japan.

The Bush administration includes a number of experts on Japanese affairs, such as Armitage and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, as top-level appointees.

A U.S. bipartisan group, including Armitage and Wolfowitz, last October came up with recommendations for improving Japan-U.S. relations. In a special report published by the Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University, the group said Japan's prohibition against collective defense under its Constitution was a "constraint on alliance cooperation." It also said lifting this prohibition would allow for "closer and more efficient security cooperation." I believe that the U.S. missile defense strategies could create problems with the issue of collective defense.

Tanaka lost a golden opportunity to hold talks on defense strategies with Armitage, who played a central role in compiling the report.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is reportedly set to unveil sweeping changes in U.S. military strategy, including the formal abandonment of the "two major war" approach that is intended to deal with large-scale conflicts occurring simultaneously on the Korean Peninsula and in the Persian Gulf region. The new strategy will be aimed at dealing with naval blockades of the Taiwan Strait and the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. It will focus less on Europe and more on East Asia.

The target of the new strategy will obviously be China, which the U.S. calls a "strategic competitor." The strategy will affect Washington-Beijing and Tokyo-Beijing relations, and the Asian situation in general.

Armitage, who also met with President Kim Dae Jung and other South Korean officials on his tour of Asia, said Washington expects to complete its review of policies toward North Korea "in the very near future."

Armitage's Tokyo visit was a good opportunity for Japan to ask about new U.S. policies toward North Korea, including a review of the 1994 U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework that was intended to freeze Pyongyang's development of nuclear arms. It would also have allowed Tokyo to convey its views to Washington and reaffirm the arrangement for Japan-U.S.-South Korea cooperation to deal with North Korea.

Bush said in a news conference May 11 that Japan is not only an economic partner but also an "important partner to keep stability in the Far East," emphasizing the need for close Japan-U.S. cooperation.

Diplomacy is based on trust. Japan should promote dialogues on defense with the Bush administration, which attaches greater importance to Japan than to China. Toward that end, Foreign Minister Tanaka should give full play to her political skills to lead her ministry with insight and a sense of balance.