社説:２０１３年を展望する 骨太の互恵精神育てよ

January 01, 2013(Mainichi Japan)
Editorial: Japan's 2013 to be shaped by power of its economy, power of peace
社説:２０１３年を展望する　骨太の互恵精神育てよ

2013 will be a year of new approaches for Japan, and we believe the nation's new ways of being will come in two facets.
　２０１３年は、戦後日本の生き方が、二つの意味で試される年になるのではないだろうか。

The first: Japan's latent economic power. Economic policy will grapple with ways to enlarge the economic pie, and then decide how that pie will be sliced.
　一つは、日本経済の底力だ。経済政策には、全体のパイをどう増やしていくか、という側面と、それをどう分配するか、と２通りある。

The previous Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) administration put the most emphasis on the latter half of that equation, distributing generous support to young people and those in agriculture in the form of child allowances, free high school tuition, and farming household subsidies.
民主党政権は後者の分配政策を重視、子ども手当、高校授業料無償化、農家への戸別所得補償といった形で若年層、第１次産業に手厚く予算を配分した。

The newly minted Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-led administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on the other hand, is intensely focused on the size of the pie, championing sweeping monetary easing and public investment under the name of breaking away from deflation.
これに対し安倍政権は、前者の成長政策を前面に押し立て、デフレ脱却の名の下に大胆な金融緩和と公共投資の必要性を唱えている。

　◇若者へ所得移転を

Of course, just about everyone ought to be happier if there's more pie to go around, and here at the outset we have no intention of speaking ill of the idea.
　確かに、全体のパイが大きくなれば誰もがハッピーになるはずで、のっけからくさすつもりは毛頭ない。

However, we must point out that it's not as if preceding administrations have done nothing towards that goal in the 20 plus years since the economic bubble burst.
They pushed zero interest rates, went ahead with major monetary easing measures of their own, and poured money into mostly public works projects as emergency economic measures on numerous occasions.
ただし、指摘すべきは、バブル崩壊後の２０年余り、歴代政権は何もしてこなかったのではなく、金融政策としてはゼロ金利や量的緩和、財政政策としては公共事業を中心とした数次に及ぶ緊急経済対策を打ってきた。

In the end, quite similar strategies were piled one atop the other, amassing a quadrillion yen national debt in the process.
いわば類似政策を積み重ねてきた結果が、１０００兆円にものぼる借金財政を生んだ、という事実だ。

Behind Japan's lack of growth are its low birthrate and aging population, the rise of emerging economies, and environmental limitations on our supply and use of energy and resources. These are all structural causes, and we want to see the Abe administration tackle them head-on.
　成長できない背景には、少子化による人口減と高齢化、新興国の台頭、資源・エネルギーの環境制約があるのだが、安倍政権にはこういった構造的要因にも手をつけてほしい。

Japan's population is greying at the fastest rate in the world, and already one in four Japanese is 65 or older. This fact makes a well-considered and solid plan to deal with the aging society especially important.
　特に、すでに４人に１人が６５歳以上となっている世界最速の高齢化には、腰を据えた対策が必要だ。

Furthermore, to create an environment where young people are confident they have the financial wherewithal to have and raise children of their own, we believe it's time that a part of our limited economic pie -- employment and income -- be shifted to those young people from the older, wealthier segment of society.
若い人たちが自分たちの子どもを産み育てることのできる環境を整備するためには、限られたパイの中で、豊かな高齢者層から雇用も所得も不安定な若年者層へのより明確な所得移転が必要になるのではないだろうか。

What we'd like people to bear in mind here is the importance of mutual concessions and reciprocity.
　その際に心がけたいのは、互譲と互恵の精神である。

We need to think that, in yielding to another, we ourselves are blessed and enriched. We also need to make this a mutual process, repeated many times.
相手に譲ることで自らが恩恵を受ける、豊かになる、それを相互に繰り返す、そういった心の持ちようだ。

To make use of Japan's young people to the full extent of their abilities will in turn revitalize all of society, the benefits of which will flow back to the elderly.
若い人たちを生かすことが社会全体の活力につながり、めぐりめぐって高齢者層の利益になる。

Even if the economic pie does not grow, can we not create such a positive redistribution cycle?
全体のパイが増えなくてもそんなプラスの分配サイクルはできないか。

To that end, we'd like to see some of the DPJ's policies that never got off the ground pushed forward by the new administration.
民主政権では踏み込めなかった政策をぜひ前に進めてほしい。

As Japan has held to its postwar focus on light armament and economy-first policy, its economy has managed to survive the calamities of the currency crisis, the oil shock and the end of the bubble economy.
　戦後軽軍備・経済重視路線を堅持する中で、為替危機、石油ショック、バブル崩壊などいくつもの激変を乗り切ってきた日本経済である。

Now is the time to use the economic potential so evident in this resilience to shift gears, to deal with the mature economy that Japan enjoys.
今こそ、その底力を発揮して成熟経済対応にギアチェンジする時である。

The spirit of reciprocity must not only be applied to intergenerational relations, but to foreign relations as well.
　互恵の精神は、世代間対立だけでなく、国と国との関係にも応用できる。

The second facet of Japan's new way of life in 2013 lies here, in the power of peace bound up in a national government that has never pursued war.
二つ目に試される日本政治の平和力とも関わってくる。

The greatest issue facing Japanese diplomacy is how to deal with the rising power of China.
　日本外交の当面の最大の課題は、台頭する中国とどう向き合うか、にある。

There is talk in international circles that Chinese incursions into Japanese territorial waters and airspace over the Senkaku Islands dispute could lead to an armed clash.
尖閣諸島をめぐる対立は、中国側の領海、領空侵犯で武力紛争の可能性まで取りざたされるに至っている。

As a country that hasn't fired a shot in anger in some 67 years, all Japanese must now reconfirm the peace power of our nation and discuss how we can avoid Japan-China relations from worsening.
戦後６７年間一回も戦争をせずにこられた我が国の平和力を今一度点検し、どうすれば最悪の事態を回避できるか、国民的議論が必要だ。

Japanese postwar pacifism is built on two main premises: a vow grounded in reflection on World War II to never again launch a war of aggression, and on the deterrent embodied in the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.
　戦後の平和を支えてきたのは、あの戦争に対する反省からきた二度と侵略戦争はしないという誓いと、現実的な抑止力として機能する日米安保体制であろう。

Japan strives to solve all its international disputes through dialogue.
係争はあくまでも話し合いで解決する。

Of course for the sake of deterring potential enemies, Japan must prepare itself militarily.
もちろん、適正な抑止力を維持するための軍事上の備えは怠らない。

For this reason, we must reconfirm the meaning and the function of the security treaty.
そのためには、日米安保体制の意義、機能を再確認しておくことが大切だ。

On top of this, we believe it important to study the history of the 1920s.
そのうえで１９２０年代の歴史から学びたい。

　◇あくまで国際協調で

The Taisho period (1912-1926) saw the formation of two major political parties, and the national discourse rang with the voices of democracy.
　日本で初めて２大政党が定着し大正デモクラシーが高らかに宣言された時代である。

In the end, however, party politics couldn't protect the peace.
だが、結果的に政党政治は平和を守り切れなかった。

The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 combined with a global financial crisis sent the Japanese economy into turmoil. Calls for imperial expansion on the Asian continent intensified, and bellicose, xenophobic hardliners drowned out the good sense of those calling for international cooperation and compromise. Militarism took over, and in the name of supporting Imperial rule, the government led our nation into reckless war.
関東大震災や世界恐慌で経済が混乱し中国大陸に対する帝国主義的な領土拡張競争が激化する中、排外主義的対外強硬路線の大声が、妥協主義的国際協調路線の良識をかき消し、軍部独走、大政翼賛政治が私たちを無謀な戦争に追いやった。

What our very own history teaches us is that when two countries cannot compromise over a territorial or sovereignty dispute, useless escalation follows.
領土や主権をめぐる争いは双方がどちらも譲歩できないことにより、いたずらに対立がエスカレートするのも歴史が教えるところである。

We believe Japan must discard cheap anti-foreign sentiment and seek big-picture international cooperation.
　安直な排外主義を排し、大局的な国際協調路線に立ちたい。

Japan is doing its best now to deal with the Senkaku dispute with China through dialogue based on legal principles. China, meanwhile, which had it examined the history of the Senkaku dispute ought to have shelved its claims to the islands, is obviously trying to change the present reality with a show of sheer power.
尖閣を巡る一連の経緯を振り返ると、棚上げされてきたはずのこの問題に対して、力による現状変更を仕掛けてきているのは明らかに中国側であり、日本はあくまで対話と法理で問題解決を図ろうとしている。

Japan must explain carefully and persistently what's going on to the world and to Asian nations in particular, and thereby make friends and allies in its confrontation with China. We should not end up alone in this.
こういった日本の立場と主張をアジア諸国を中心に世界に対し粘り強く丁寧に説明し理解を得て仲間を作る。決して孤立化しないことだ。

With China itself, we must constantly reassert the merits of the strategic partnership of mutual benefit.
　中国との間では、戦略的互恵路線がいかに両国関係にメリットをもたらしたかを改めて確認したい。

First of all, Japan must tolerate the tension involved in dispensing with any hardline talk and sticking to the status quo.
まずは、強硬路線の悪循環を排し現状維持の緊張に耐え抜くことだ。

A chance for compromise will emerge from therein.
そして、対話と妥協の機をうかがう。

If, for example, China stopped sending government ships to the waters around the Senkakus; if Japan admitted that the islands dispute was in fact a diplomatic issue, then the parties could finally sit at a table and talk about it.
例えば、中国は公船の派遣をやめる。日本も外交問題はあることまでは認め話し合いのテーブルにつく。

We'd like to see leaders from both China and Japan show resourcefulness and courage.
両国首脳の知略と勇気に期待したい。

Distributing the economic pie and the continuation of peace in East Asia -- for these things we call for a spirit of reciprocity that will make this era one of conciliation.
　パイの配分と平和の継続。時代は互譲の裏付けのある骨太な互恵精神を求めている。

If we look back on all the steps we've taken since the end of World War II, we have built up all the power we need to respond to the demands of the postwar era.
戦後の歩みを振り返ると、私たちにはその時代の要請に応える力は十分に備わっているように思える。

While it is undoubtedly the politicians who will have to work the hardest to put that power to use, we would like all Japanese citizens to remember once more that their jobs are given to them by us.
実現に汗をかくのは一義的には政治家だが、彼らにそういう仕事をさせるのは、私たち国民であることを改めて胸に刻みたい。

毎日新聞　2013年01月01日　02時30分