Rome, 13 January The United States is willing to provide Japan with assistance to strengthen its missile “counterattack” capability, as outlined in the new Tokyo National Defense and Security Strategy. The coordinator of strategic communications of the US National Security Council John Kirby said this in an interview with Nikkei, in the run-up to the summit that today will involve Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida with US President Joe Biden.
“If Japan requests assistance in improving its capabilities, we will certainly work to provide it,” Kirby said speaking to the Japanese paper.
In fact, the theme of defense is one of the main ones on the menu for the meeting that Kishida will have at the White House. This is the first face-to-face with Biden since the launch last month of the new national defense strategy, which marked a leap of faith on the issue of armaments by Tokyo, making China particularly angry. It is also the first visit to Washington by the Japanese head of government since he became prime minister. He is coming as part of a tour that has already taken him to Paris, Rome and London as the rotating president of the G7 to illustrate this year’s program which will culminate with the Hiroshima summit on May 19-21.
About Tokyo
Tokyo is greatly expanding the range of defense and security partnerships with neighboring countries in terms of socio-political system, accommodating a de facto integration into the more articulated system of alliances and partnerships that some observers already define as “global NATO” . And even a player in the pro-American context usually not at all inclined to passively accept a greater assertiveness from its neighbour, such as South Korea, now seems to be resigned to the fact of seeing a more armed Japan again. President Yoon Suk-yeol said three days ago: “We may be perplexed that a country which adopts a pacifist constitution could do such a thing, but if there are missiles flying over their heads and the possibility of a nuclear attack, it is difficult to stop them”.
The day before yesterday, in a 2+2 meeting of the foreign and defense ministers of the United States and Japan, a more extensive interpretation of Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Treaty was decided, which extends American protection to space on the archipelago. At the same time, in London, Kishida signed a reciprocal military access agreement which provides for the possibility for Japanese soldiers to be deployed in the United Kingdom and for soldiers of Her British Majesty to do the same in Japan for training purposes, for military maneuvers and for relief in case of disasters. It is the first agreement of its kind with a European country signed by Tokyo.
Agreement With London
Furthermore, Japan reached a further agreement with London and Italy just a month ago to unify the development programs of a sixth generation combat aircraft – the Anglo-Italian “Tempest” and the Japanese F-X of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – under the denomination of Global Combat Air Program (GCAP). Again, this is an unprecedented evolution.
Kishida for his part clarified that this process is not sporadic through the three documents illustrating the new national defense and security strategy, which place Japan “in the midst of the most severe post-war security context”, with China and Korea North views as the main threats. Hence the need to “prepare for the worst-case scenario”, increasing investment in defense and bringing it to the important proportion of 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2027, with a de facto doubling.
The new Japanese defense strategy develops around the concept of “counterattack”, which still stresses Article 9 of the Japanese pacifist Constitution, drawn up after the war under the dictation of the American occupation forces. As is well known, this article not only sanctions the renunciation of the right to belligerence and war as a means of resolving international conflicts (as the Italian one does on the other hand), but also the alienation of the very right to form armed forces. This last part of the article, however, has been circumvented since the Korean War (especially under the stimulus of Washington) with the creation of the Self-Defense Forces.
The United States has also given its blessing to this new, more assertive role of Tokyo in East Asia, in light of the rise of China, the persistence of the Russian threat (which, it should be remembered, also plays a role of power in the Pacific ) and the North Korean threat. The new Japan National Security and Defense Strategy “provides a more robust framework for the Japan Self-Defense Forces to be more involved in regional security,” Kirby noted, and added: “I think President Biden will be very clear in meeting with Prime Minister Kishida on how much you appreciate this strategy.”
One of the first steps of this strengthened cooperation could be Japan’s purchase of US Tomahawk cruise missiles, which would materialize the notion of missile “counterattack” on which Kishida is aiming, but also that of “integrated deterrence” which is at the heart of Biden’s defense strategy for the Indo-Pacific.
This article is originally published on askanews.it