Reagan Aides Question His Pact With Japan

Some advisers doubt the Japanese will comply with the terms of the science treaty signed in Canada last June WASHINGTON—The ink had hardly dried on the agreement signed by Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita to foster United States-Japan cooperation in science when the sniping began. But the snipers weren’t Democrats running for office, nor were they diplomats representing Japan’s commercial rivals. The criticism was coming from hardliners in the White House— including members of the president’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. “This country has experienced past situations in which the Japanese have promised to do something and then didn’t follow through,” warns Deborah ‘Wince, assistant director for international affairs within the office. That view casts doubt on the common wisdom flowing from the June 20 ceremony at the Toronto economic summit that the five-year agreement marks the end of a bitter feud between the two economic powers on access to research facilities. The agreement covers potential cooperation in a range of disciplines, ranging from biotechnology to superconductors, and recognizes the importance of intellectual property within the context of the widest possible dissemination of civilian research findings. The agreement is meant to spur bilateral access to government-sponsored research. The terms of the pact, which replaces a more general 1980 agreement between the two countries, were shaped by U.S. suspicions that the Japanese have taken advantage of the traditionally open U.S. research system while keeping their own scientists under wraps. To overcome such suspicions, the agreement creates three bodies to monitor each party’s adherence to the principle of “comparable access” to government-funded research facilities. But White House employee Wince doesn’t buy it. She concedes that it will be enough of a challenge for U.S. officials to encourage U.S. scientists to work in Japan. But that won’t be possible, she adds, until the Japanese change their attitude toward foreign scientists. “The Japanese really don’t want us there,” she says. “To carry out the spirit of this agreement, they must address the cultural carriers to conducting research in Japan, thereby creating an environment that is more conducive to cooperation.” Other U.S. officials are more sanguine about the chances of improved cooperation under the new agreement. According to Charles (“Tom”) Owens of the National Science Foundation, a good deal of the hostility in the U.S. is based on a mistaken view of Japanese attitudes toward joint research. “A U.S. scientist who comes to work in a Japanese lab is typically given the biggest and nicest office,” says Owens, who has spent a considerable amount of time in Japan. “As a result, it may be down the hall, or on a different floor, from the rest of the offices, which after all are three times smaller. After a while the American starts to feel isolated and begins to think his Japanese colleagues are trying to avoid him, maybe even to hide things from him.” “In reality,” Owens continues, “what’s happening is an attempt by the Japanese to treat him as an honored guest, and at the same time to relieve themselves of the burden of always having to take his presence into account. The fact is, it’s hard for the Japanese to relax if an outsider joins their group." NSF is clearly a believer: The foundation is participating in four separate programs to encourage cooperative research with the Japanese. In addition to these efforts, which are being funded by the Japanese, NSF this year began an $800,000 program to support U.S. scientists who want to work in Japan (The Scientist, July 25, page 21). It is also expanding its presence there. Next year the foundation plans to open a second Tokyo office to work specifically with scientists conducting cooperative research in Japan. The new office will complement an existing staff of four housed in the American embassy in Tokyo. Kaname Ikeda, science attaché at the Japanese embassy here, applauds such a step. “‘We would be happy to have more Americans in Japanese labs,” says Ikeda. “But in order for that to happen, U.S. scientists need to come voluntarily, just as Japanese scientists have come [to the U.S.] without being pushed by their government.” Ikeda recognizes the role that his government must play in bringing that about. “‘We need to make our labs sufficiently attractive to Americans, so that they will want to come and spend two or three years here. And that means putting more effort into basic research.” Ikeda compares the new agreement to a marriage, something that requires a commitment by both sides. For Wince, however, the carrot and stick is a more appropriate analogy. “‘We want to give the Japanese every opportunity to carry out what their prime minister signed,” she says. “But if they drag their feet, I’m sure you’ll start to hear talk around here about retaliation. It’s up to them.”

Reagan Aides Question His Pact With Japan

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