Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993 TAG: 9312140079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TOKYO LENGTH: Medium
Hosokawa's decision, overriding opposition from within his governing coalition, came as negotiators in Geneva raced to conclude an agreement on freer international trade before a Wednesday deadline.
The lifting of the rice ban was formally approved in a special meeting of the Cabinet.
Japan's trade partners had sought the concession on rice to encourage flexibility by other nations on agricultural issues.
The rice ban also had been considered symbolic of what critics contend are overly protected Japanese markets in general, although Japan says it already is the world's largest importer of farm products.
Japan's heavily subsidized rice farmers say that ending the import ban will threaten their livelihood in this crowded and land-short nation, because they cannot compete with more efficient foreign producers.
Imports eventually should lessen the cost Japanese consumers pay for the staple food. Because of the protection from competition by cheaper foreign rice, Japanese rice sells for five to seven times the world market price.
The United States also has been pressuring South Korea to drop its ban on rice imports.
The announcement by Japan came hours after an emergency shipment of 7,200 tons of rice arrived in western Japan from Sacramento, Calif.
That shipment, part of Japan's first emergency rice imports in more than a decade, was brought in to replenish supplies after the worst rice harvest since World War II. The emergency shipments originally were planned as a one-time exception to the rice ban.
Hosokawa said he approved the market-opening plan as part of current world trade talks in Geneva under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The plan would end Japan's outright ban on foreign rice and allow limited imports subject to extremely high tariffs that would gradually be lowered.
Tokyo began its policy of self-sufficiency in rice production in 1942 to ensure the nation had enough rice during World War II. Proponents of the ban say "food security" is still essential.
Farmers held protests and sit-ins and surrounded the headquarters of one major party in a boisterous but peaceful demonstration of their opposition to imports.
Tokuichiro Tamazawa, a member of the Liberal Democrats, the leading opposition party, criticized Hosokawa in a heated session of Parliament before the announcement. He said Japan's failure to get a better deal in the trade talks "exposed the impotence of our country's foreign policy."
"We've been betrayed," added Makiko Tanaka, also a Liberal Democrat. Other Liberal Democrats urged Hosokawa to resign.
But Foreign Minister Tsutomu Hata, who returned to Tokyo on Monday after meeting in Geneva with U.S. and European officials as part of the Uruguay Round of trade talks, defended the decision as unavoidable.
"Everyone agreed that failure to conclude the Uruguay Round will hurt the global economy," he told reporters at the airport.
Hata's trip to Geneva was widely seen as an attempt to convince the Japanese public the government was not simply caving in to foreign pressure. It also may have been aimed at persuading members of Hosokawa's own coalition, which remains deeply divided over trade liberalization.
by CNB