Japan is set to remove geographical limits on its defense partnership with the U.S. as the countries seek to bolster security cooperation amid China’s military assertiveness.
New guidelines on U.S.-Japan defense cooperation should emphasize the global nature of the alliance and coordination with other regional partners, according to an interim report on a review of the guidelines released Wednesday by Japan’s Ministry of Defense.
The report doesn’t mention “situations in areas surrounding Japan,” the scope of geographical cooperation included in the current guidelines, which were released in 1997.
Faced with a territorial dispute with China in the East China Sea, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed through a series of measures to toughen Japan’s defense stance since taking office in 2012. He is seeking to increase the defense budget for a third year after more than a decade of cuts, and in July his cabinet reinterpreted the pacifist constitution to allow Japan to defend other countries.
“The potential for conflict involving the military is less theoretical than it used to be,” said James Schoff, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. “They feel a little bit more in the front line,” he said of Japan’s concerns about North Korean missiles and Chinese incursions into waters and airspace it administers around disputed islands.
Japan and the U.S. said in October 2013 they aimed to complete a review of the defense guidelines by the end of this year, in what Secretary of State John Kerry said would be a roadmap for the relationship over the next 15 to 20 years. It’s not clear whether the deadline will be met, with Japan still drafting the legislation needed to implement the cabinet’s reinterpretation of the constitution, which is also to be reflected in the new guidelines.
The removal of geographical restrictions comes after Abe’s assurances that Japan’s forces will never take part in a conflict comparable to the Gulf War. Japan has pledged aid in response to Islamic State’s capture of areas in Iraq and Syria, while saying it will not take part in bombing campaigns in the Middle East.
The theoretical freedom to act anywhere in the world and respond to attacks on other countries could make the operational and political stakes “quite high” for the allies, Schoff said.
Japan and the U.S. will set up a framework to coordinate their alliance, according to the report. They will seek cooperation both in peacetime and emergencies on marine security, the protection of assets and missile defense, the report said.
“The preferred American position is: let’s put as few constraints as possible, because you never know,” Schoff said. “There’s nothing in the guidelines that says you have to.” (Bloomberg)
