As Tokyo embraces rearmament, ties with US, tensions could rise: experts

US President Joe Biden pats Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the back as they walk down the West Wing Colonnade to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, US, Jan 13, 2023. (JONATHAN ERNST / POOL PHOTO VIA AP)

In a historic shift from the post-World War II international order, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cast off the country’s pacifist limitations during a meeting last week with United States President Joe Biden, a move that will increase regional and geopolitical tension, experts said.

“Japan has actually broken out of its six decades of pacifist status,” said Wang Qi, a researcher of East Asia at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, or CASS, in Beijing.

Meeting with Biden on Jan 13 on the last leg of a G7 tour ahead of the group’s summit in Hiroshima in May, Kishida said the US-Japan alliance was “stronger than ever”.

Biden said, “The United States is fully, thoroughly, completely committed to the alliance and, more importantly, to the defense of Japan” — showing Washington’s support for the country’s controversial rearmament plan, which aims to double Japan’s defense spending over the next five years.

The two leaders signed a pact to deepen cooperation on security and space, among other areas.

Japan agreed to upgrade the intelligence and surveillance capabilities of US troops stationed in Japan. The US endorsed Japan’s decision to develop counterstrike capabilities, which would allow Tokyo to defend itself from incoming missiles and launch strikes.

“Biden’s support for Japan’s rearmament, is, in a way, a very selfish act in making Japan a cat’s-paw to contain China,” said Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies of the CASS.

Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said the actions of Washington and Tokyo will feed a regional arms race, which will increase regional and geopolitical tensions.

Just half a month into the new year, Kishida has completed a tour of five of the Group of Seven nations.

During his trip to France, Italy, Britain, Canada and the US from Jan 9-15, Kishida signed a reciprocal access defense agreement for closer defense and security ties with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak, and issued a joint statement with US President Biden reiterating the importance of the Japan-US alliance in the so-called “Indo-Pacific strategy”.

Since Kishida’s government updated its security strategy last month in contravention of its exclusively defense-oriented policy, its actions have increasingly alarmed its Asian neighbors, Japanese scholars said.

The Jan 13 US-Japan summit, the main focus of Kishida’s weeklong tour, marked his first Washington visit as the Japanese premier.

The government also intends to secure about $313 billion in defense spending for the five years from fiscal 2023.

Analysts point out that the US in recent years has dominated the Australia-India-Japan-US Quadrilateral in the Asia-Pacific region, while peddling the “Indo-Pacific Economic Framework” as part of efforts to form cliques.

During the US-Japan meeting, the security environment in the “Indo-Pacific” region was repeatedly brought up. While Kishida explained to Biden the changes in Japan’s security policy, the US president “commended” Japan’s defense upgrade and its “historic” defense budget hike.

Atsushi Koketsu, emeritus professor at Yamaguchi University, said the Japanese government, in line with the US intentions, has turned to a “preemptive attack strategy” by abandoning the “exclusive defense” concept.

Liu Di, a professor at Japan’s Kyorin University, said Japan’s economy has been stagnating for the past 30 years and it will inevitably lead to a host of domestic conflicts if the government continues to hike defense spending.

Ukeru Magosaki, a former Japanese foreign ministry official, said most Japanese people do not approve of increasing defense expenditure.

As the current G7 chair, Japan will host the group’s summit in May, in Hiroshima.

Xinhua contributed to this report.

Contact the writers at wangxu@chinadaily.com.cn