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Japan seeks a bigger role in regional security structures
Japan seeks a bigger role in regional security structures
15/12/14
Over recent
decades, Japan
has not taken a leadership role in the region, despite its large economy. This
makes Tokyo’s
recent efforts to secure power and influence in the region a significant policy
change. As Japan
strives to establish itself as a leader in the Asia-Pacific Region, many of its
policies have been perceived as being anti-Chinese. Some participants wondered
if Japan is trying to
encourage the United States
to a play a more significant role in the Asia-Pacific in order to curb Chinese
power.
Japanese security
policy has witnessed significant changes over the last year, with the formation
of a Japanese National Security Council and the adoption of several new defense
and security guidelines. Tokyo’s
annual defense white paper offered a reinterpretation of the country’s pacifist
constitution and adjustments to policies regarding dual use and defense
technologies. For many in China,
these developments have reinforced the notion that Japan is seeking to contain it.
Japanese prime
minister Shinzo Abe is seeking to reinterpret the country’s pacifist
constitution to allow it to defend allies, freeing its military for the first
time in over 60 years to play a more assertive role in the increasingly tense
region, as part of a broader push for influence in the region as China asserts
itself as an economic and military power. Japan
and China are embroiled in a
dispute over islands in the East China Sea and China
is pressing its claims to a large part of the South China
Sea, a major trade route.
In the security
strategy, Japan
pledged to seek more "proactive" roles for its military force abroad
and to set new guidelines on arms exports, signaling a major shift from its
previous restrictive policy.
Japan has so far interpreted its U.S.-drafted constitution
as banning so-called collective self-defense because it exceeds the requirement
to keep the use of force to a minimum, according to a previous report by Abe’s
advisory panel. Faced with high barriers to his longer-term goal of revising
the constitution, Abe is seeking to strengthen Japan’s military stance by other
means.
Mr.
Abe, a longtime influential conservative, has tried in the past to win approval
for a wholesale rewriting of the Constitution, part of his campaign to make Japan what he
calls a more “normal” country that no longer hides its power out of shame for
wartime transgressions. Lack of public support for those attempts, in part,
cost him his job seven years ago, the last time he was prime minister.
“As
the prime minister, I have responsibility for protecting the Japanese people’s
lives under all circumstances,” Abe said at a news conference in Tokyo. “I cannot believe
that the Japanese constitution is telling me to abandon that responsibility.”
The
latest move differs from many of those actions in that it fundamentally changes
the reading of the postwar Constitution and seems to take Japan further
than ever from the renunciation of force as a way of settling disputes.
Observers said the latest steps have
pushed Japan further away
from its pacifist Constitution and target China as an imaginary enemy.
Citing China's growing military
capabilities, Tokyo expressed concern through these policies over what it calls
Beijing's attempts to change the status quo, including the recent designation
of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea.
Japan’s stance is part of a rapidly shifting balance of
power in Asia, where China
and its growing military are mounting a serious challenge to the regional
dominance of the United States
and its allies, including Japan,
and making assertive claims to vast areas of two strategically important seas.
The hawkish Mr. Abe’s response is certain to anger the Chinese — who have never
forgiven Japan for its World
War II-era invasion — and could set Asia’s two
biggest powers even more on edge.
Since
then, the region has been transformed not only by China’s rise, but also a
deterioration of American dominance that is leading several countries in the
region to try to beef up their own military abilities.
The
decision by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will permit Japan to use
its large and technologically advanced armed forces in ways that would have been
unthinkable even a decade ago when they were limited to defending the country.
The revision will allow the military to come to the aid of friendly countries
under attack, including the United
States.
While Japan’s
military, known as the Self-Defense Forces, would still face severe
restrictions on what it could do, it would be allowed for the first time to
take such actions as come to the aid of an American ship under attack, or shoot
down a North Korean missile heading toward the United States.
While
Mr. Abe focused his comments on closer ties with the United
States, analysts said the new policy could also make it
easier for Japan to seek new
military alliances with the Philippines
and other nations that have similar territorial disputes with China.
“Japan
is experiencing a security renaissance,” said Andrew L. Oros, director of
international studies at Washington College in Chestertown,
Md. “What is remarkable is not
that things are changing, but that they are changing with so little fanfare.”./.
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All comments [ 10 ]
Yeah, I support Japan to play a bigger role in region, to balance with China, another big bad neighbour.
As Japan strives to establish itself as a leader in the Asia-Pacific Region, many of its policies have been perceived as being anti-Chinese.
Japan are so developed and has an adorable culture.
For many in China, these developments have reinforced the notion that Japan is seeking to contain it.
This steps have pushed Japan further away from its pacifist Constitution and target China as an imaginary enemy.
Japan and America will be counterbalance against China's aggressive actions.
Japan’s stance is part of a rapidly shifting balance of power in Asia, where China and its growing military are mounting a serious challenge to the regional dominance of the United States and its allies
the region has been transformed not only by China’s rise, but also a deterioration of American dominance.
In the past, both Japan and China were our enemies, but now, almost Vietnamese people prefer Japan to China, so hilarious!
Japan should strech their military presence out to the region for peace and development to all countries.
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