it was the beginning of a shift that michael schiffer and alluded to. domestic politics mattered. the world had not changed much but the posture of japanese national security thinking and the discourse had changed. thanks to this serious behavior of the north koreans -- you can always count on them -- but also to what david was talking about, the surprising assertiveness of the chinese in the spring of last year and fall of last year. the government gave way to another government, which was more amenable to the status quo. not completely, but more willing to of the united states. efforts that had been made to reduce host nation support were abandoned and so forth. it is in the paper. i hope you will have a look at it. what we thought would be particularly important was to change this array slightly. it seemed to us useful to re- dimension the debate on china. somehow, finding the right distance, not just from the u.s., but the right distance from china, was something that was the most important strategic choice facing japan today. getting it right, not just for the u.s., but getti