Last week, Shigeru Ishiba was elected by the Japanese parliament as the country’s next head of government. The new prime minister is particularly known for his vast expertise in national security, and this might be one of the areas where changes can be expected.
An intellectual and experienced politician, the 67-year-old Ishiba has held a number of government positions, including two stints as the top defense official in the first decade of this century. More importantly, he has repeatedly been vocal about possible changes in the post-war regional security structure.
Shortly before his appointment, Ishiba laid out his views on key security topics and how the nation should build on the relationship with its closest ally – the United States.
In an article published by the US-based Hudson Institute, Ishiba argued for the creation of an Asian military alliance by analogy with NATO. “The absence of a collective self-defense system like NATO in Asia means that wars are likely to break out because there is no obligation for mutual defense,” he pointed out.
Just as importantly, Ishiba called for a greater balance in the defense partnership between Japan and the US, something that he thinks will only strengthen the alliance between the two countries. This might include positioning Japanese Self-Defense Force members at bases in the US as well as jointly managing American bases in Japan.
The fact that Ishiba’s recently formed cabinet includes security experts is just further evidence of defense being a priority for Japan’s new prime minister.
Upgrading military ties with the US
Although Ishiba’s rhetoric implies that under his leadership Japan might be less reliant on Washington, the United States will obviously remain its most vital ally on the international stage. Tellingly, among the first things Ishiba did after taking office was to have a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden.
Ishiba assured his American counterpart of his intention to fortify the partnership between the two nations, which had already been considerably strengthened during his predecessor Kishida’s tenure.
Indeed, the US-Japan alliance has come a long way, starting from the 1951 U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty that allowed the American military bases to remain in the East Asian country. Later, the document was revised, granting the United States the right to base troops in Japan in exchange for Washington’s commitment to defend the nation against any armed attack.
However, it’s only relatively recently that Tokyo has significantly increased its contribution to the alliance.
“The process started when Mr Shinzo Abe became prime minister for the second time in 2012,” said Kunihiko Miyake, a visiting professor at Kyoto’s Ritsumeikan University.
Abe “decided to upgrade our national security policy and change the interpretation of the constitution so that Japan could to a certain extent use force against adversaries to defend Americans,” the expert told this author.
“This is a very important change of constitutional interpretation of Article Nine, although, even with that interpretation, our right to collective self-defense is still limited. Not a full-fledged one like a NATO kind of collective defense obligation,” Miyake added.
“But that was a great leap,” he stressed. “And then Mr Abe revised the important, what we call, three national security-related documents. We revised them so that we would have a strike capability to defend our country. Also, we decided to set up joint headquarters inside the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. And, independently, the United States will establish command headquarters in Tokyo so that we would be able to fight together more smoothly than before.”
Following high-level meetings held in Tokyo this July, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III announced that US Forces Japan would be upgraded to a joint force headquarters while obtaining greater responsibilities. Calling it a “historic decision,” the American official stressed that the move was among “the strongest improvements” in the countries’ military partnership in 70 years.
Emerging as a regional military power
These measures, primarily the modernization of command and control, mean that the US-Japan alliance is growing more integrated.
“What is most important is not the rhetoric or spirit but the ability to show our neighbors that we can fight, if necessary, together with Americans to deter whatever contingencies in our neighborhood,” Miyake said. “South Koreans are fully aware of that now, and we have improved our relationship with them thanks to the US president. A tripartite summit in Camp David last year was pretty successful.”
Now that Japan’s role in global security is rising, Tokyo is ramping up the country’s defense budget.
“We have decided to increase the amount of defense spending up to 2% of the GDP, which used to be around 1%. All in all, the process has already begun. It takes time – usually, five to 10 years – but it is extremely important that we have started doing it,” the expert added.
Last month, the Defense Ministry of Japan made a record budget request of almost $60 billion for fiscal 2025. With the use of these funds, the government, among other things, will be able to bolster Japan’s standoff weapons capabilities, set up a constellation of threat-detection satellites, and build Aegis-equipped vessels. The construction of the latter is particularly essential given the potential missile threat emanating from North Korea.
Still, coordination with the US forces is a key element of Japan’s defense strategy.
“In modern warfare, there are six domains,” Miyake noted. “In addition to air, ground and sea, we have cyber, space and electromagnetic ones. And I would add one more – information warfare. In those seven domains, we have to upgrade our coordination. Also, we should be able to conduct operations, combining all the six domain war fighting capabilities. In addition, we should be able to coordinate and link all the data with the US forces.
“This has already started between the navies, the air force is getting better. Then there is cyber and space. It is a long way to go, but in order for us to be able to deter whatever kind of aggression, we should be able to coordinate with Americans in every single of those seven domains,” Miyake concluded.