ＴＰＰ交渉参加 攻守両にらみ戦略で挽回せよ

The Yomiuri Shimbun July 27, 2013
Hammer out effective strategy to redeem lost time in TPP talks
ＴＰＰ交渉参加　攻守両にらみ戦略で挽回せよ（7月26日付・読売社説）

At last Japan has entered talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral trade agreement, which have so far been conducted by 11 countries, including the United States.
　日本がようやく、米国など１１か国が進める環太平洋経済連携協定（ＴＰＰ）交渉に参加した。

Regarding Japan’s participation in the TPP negotiations, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stressed, “We will make full use of our negotiating power to protect what needs protecting and push for what we want, to seek the best way to serve national interests.”
　安倍首相は、「交渉力を駆使し、守るべきものは守り、攻めるべきものは攻め、国益にかなう最善の道を追求する」と強調している。

To ensure that this country can make up for the time lost due to its late entry into the TPP talks, the government must beef up its defensive and offensive strategies.
　政府は、出遅れ挽回へ、攻守両にらみの戦略を強化すべきだ。

The latest round of TPP negotiations took place in Malaysia from July 15, and Japan joined the talks as the 12th member for only two and a half days in the final phase of the round that ended Thursday.
　ＴＰＰ交渉会合がマレーシアで開かれ、日本は１２番目のメンバーとして２日半だけ合流した。

By taking part in the talks, Japan received for the first time a pile of texts on the TPP negotiations comprising 29 chapters on such subjects as abolition of tariffs, intellectual property rights and investment.
　関税撤廃、知的財産権、投資など２９章に及ぶＴＰＰ交渉をまとめた文書が、初めて日本に開示された。

Talks may be prolonged

It is of great significance that Japan can now grasp the entire picture of issues that have been discussed among TPP members.
全体像を把握できるようになった意味は大きい。

The next TPP gathering is scheduled for late August in Brunei, while consultations on the TPP between Japan and the United States will be conducted in parallel with the Brunei round from August on.
　次回会合は８月末にブルネイで開かれ、日米協議も８月以降、並行して行われる。

The government must waste no time working out how to deal with the increasingly accelerating pace of the TPP talks by making a detailed analysis of the assertions of each participant country.
政府は各国の主張を分析し、加速する交渉への対応を急がねばならない。

The United States and some other TPP participants have set a goal of finalizing a basic agreement in the negotiations by October and concluding the talks by the end of the year. The TPP representative of Malaysia said in a news conference on Thursday that his country will energetically engage in discussions to complete them as scheduled.
　米国などは、１０月の基本合意と年内妥結を目標に掲げている。マレーシアの代表も２５日の記者会見で、「妥結期限に間に合うよう精力的に議論する」と強調した。

However, the TPP countries are still at loggerheads regarding the abolition of tariffs, the main point of contention, which has apparently caused the negotiations to stall.
　ただし、最大の焦点の関税撤廃を巡っては各国が対立し、交渉が停滞している模様だ。

Given the current pace of the talks, it is unlikely they will be concluded by the end of the year. Indications are that the negotiations may continue into next year.
　今のペースでは年内決着は難しく、交渉が越年する可能性がある。

Although Japan, as a late starter, remains in a difficult position in the negotiations, prolonged talks may give Japan more room to make up for lost time.
日本の立場は依然厳しいが、出遅れを取り戻す余地は広がろう。

In its platform for the recent House of Councillors election, the Liberal Democratic Party pledged to “give top priority to securing exemption of five agricultural products,” including rice and wheat, from tariff abolition.
　自民党は参院選で、コメ、麦など「農産物５品目の聖域を最優先する」と主張した。

In the upper chamber election, Toshio Yamada of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA Zenchu) secured his reelection as one of the highest-ranking winners in the proportional representation contest. Yamada has pledged to press the government to protect national interests without fail in the TPP talks.
　全国農業協同組合中央会（ＪＡ全中）出身の山田俊男参院議員が比例選の上位で再選され、国益を守り抜くよう求めている。

Another upper house member, Hidehisa Otsuji, who ran in the Kagoshima prefectural constituency on a platform of opposing the TPP, won an upper house seat for the fifth time.
ＴＰＰ反対を掲げた鹿児島選挙区の尾辻秀久参院議員も５選された。

‘Going on the offensive’

While some LDP legislators remain firmly opposed to the TPP, the government and the LDP must buckle down to swiftly push ahead with concrete measures for improving the competitiveness of the nation’s agriculture, in preparation for further opening of the domestic farm market to foreign competition.
　党内にはなおＴＰＰ反対論がくすぶるものの、政府・自民党が急ぐべきは、一層の市場開放に備えて、農業の競争力を強化する具体策を推進することである。

Given that the TPP is aimed at a high degree of trade liberalization, protecting rice and other farm products as exemptions from tariff abolition will not necessarily secure Japan’s national interests.
　ＴＰＰは高水準の自由化が目標で、コメなど全てを関税撤廃の例外扱いとして守ることが日本の国益に資するとは限らない。

A well-balanced strategy must be hammered out in this respect.
バランスの取れた戦略が必要だ。

Of higher importance for Japan is to “go on the offensive” by increasing exports of motor vehicles and electronics through tariff abolition, as well as establishing an environment conducive to business activity through such steps as lifting restrictions on capital investment from abroad.
　自動車、電機などの関税撤廃による輸出拡大や、外資規制撤廃といったビジネス環境整備での「攻め」がむしろ重要と言える。

The envisaged TPP pact will constitute a huge free trade zone accounting for about 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product.
　ＴＰＰは世界の国内総生産（ＧＤＰ）の約４割を占める巨大な自由貿易圏である。

Japan must utilize the TPP to tap the vigor of other economies in Asia, to spur the nation’s economic growth.
日本はＴＰＰでアジアの活力を取り込み、成長に弾みを付けねばならない。

How can Japan play a leading role in crafting trade and investment rules in Asia? How to address this challenge is of crucial significance, and could determine the fate of the growth strategy on which the Abe administration has placed such importance.
　日本がアジアの貿易・投資ルール作りをどう主導するのか。安倍政権が重視する成長戦略の行方をも左右する正念場になる。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 26, 2013)
（2013年7月26日01時18分 読売新聞）