10 November 2005
Peru sticks it to Japan
It was fascinating to learn about Peru standing up to plain old Japanese imperialism over fugitive ex-president Alberto Fujimori's pending extradition back to Peru. As the BBC reports, Peru will downgrade its diplomatic ties with Japan by withdrawing its ambassador indefinitely.
Wanted on charges of corruption and human rights abuses, Fujimori fled to Japan in 2000 and was promptly granted citizenship by the Koizumi regime. This obviously allowed Fujimori to escape being held accountable for his alleged crimes.
While it may be understandable for some countries to refuse extradition in cases where capital punishment could result, it appears that this isn't the case for Fujimori. Instead, the Koizumi regime is simply applying a "citizen of Rome" privilege. ie a Japanese citizen is above the law of another country even if that citizen commits a crime in that country.
Not only did the Japanese regime provide cover for Fujimori, it now seeks to pressure Chile into refusing Peru's extradition request! No wonder the Peruvian government is mad as hell with Japan.
This sort of parochial attitude on the part of Japan also underlies its continuing friction with Asian countries over the lack of an official governmental apology for Japanese war crimes. Like Team Neo-Con in the US, the Koizumi regime's arrogance will eventually return to bite them on their collective behind.
Wanted on charges of corruption and human rights abuses, Fujimori fled to Japan in 2000 and was promptly granted citizenship by the Koizumi regime. This obviously allowed Fujimori to escape being held accountable for his alleged crimes.
While it may be understandable for some countries to refuse extradition in cases where capital punishment could result, it appears that this isn't the case for Fujimori. Instead, the Koizumi regime is simply applying a "citizen of Rome" privilege. ie a Japanese citizen is above the law of another country even if that citizen commits a crime in that country.
Not only did the Japanese regime provide cover for Fujimori, it now seeks to pressure Chile into refusing Peru's extradition request! No wonder the Peruvian government is mad as hell with Japan.
This sort of parochial attitude on the part of Japan also underlies its continuing friction with Asian countries over the lack of an official governmental apology for Japanese war crimes. Like Team Neo-Con in the US, the Koizumi regime's arrogance will eventually return to bite them on their collective behind.
