América Latina: ¿clase media de las naciones?

(2), THE. ROLE OF JAPAN' IN THE FRAM.EWQRK OF A"" RELATIONSHIP WITH LATINAMERICA Japan has madea new choice in the direction of ext'anding the radius of its externa! polítical activities. Itdoes not, howeyer, follow Japan is: tlOW prepared to talre part in the power garue played by the great powers in the region outside East Asia. Ja.pan is still a regional power lacking the capability suffi'dent for engaging in a, struggle for power on the global scene. As it is, well, known,she has not deve~ lope<! nuclear wea ,and themilítary power she holds, is no bigger, than smadI or me Uiffi size. , , Unlike the Sovi,et' UniDn or China, Japan has no revolutionary forces to support, which have been a.ctive in bringingabout 'politica.l change in several, places Jn ,LatinAmerka. Unlike the United States, Japan has no tradition oE conduding "Missionary diplomacy" desig– ned. to promote the ideal'Of, democracy and to defend the democratlc. institution,and oE using a "stkk" to protect its economic interestsin this area. ,The only tie, apart from eeonomic one, Japan has historically, developed withLatin America is that formed. through her inmigra~ tion, which is in ,particular noticeable in, Brazil. One could,argue here about the ,changed pattern of Japanese fo-' reign poliey in, the postwar perlod in terms of her aims pursue:d. Sínce the beginning of· the Meiji era when Japan made a start as' a mooern state, it hao been the' supreme goal for her to cátch up with the western' countries in the modernization oE her society at various levels """"political,economic, military, and cultUlml-, and then to be, r.anke.d among bis. powers in the international society. She had made muchefforts i Il buildingup hermilitary capability toexpand the territory an'd to join thepower garue played by big countries. . < _ The tragedy oE the Pacific War, 1941-45, marked the complete failure of the' course of actibn Japan had taken sincé the Meiji era a.tid impressed the people with foolishness of pálicy emplóying(¡f niilitary means to attaiil her national goál. . Slill keeping' the 'memory of the disaster of World War 11, Japan i~ not like1y toexpand the radius of political activities to such an extertt that she will play an active role in polítical ferms in the region oE Latin America. It seems to me that the "emerging rok of Japan" in thi5 region will be Hmited to .an economic, or perhapS' cultura:! one, fOle years to come.' . Now, let me look at economic l"elations between Japan and Látin America bdeEly. Theexpott of Japanese· goods to Latin·· AmerÍCIt amóunts to S billion do1.lars in 1976, while Japanese import· from the' area 2.5 billiondolla:rs-' thát year. Thefigure indicares, thaf the ratio of theimport Japan sharing in the whole import .of Latin