Experts: Tokyo’s push to ease curbs of pacifist constitution worries region
Japan and the United States have launched a large-scale joint military exercise, raising concerns of destabilizing regional security and further heightening tensions between Japan and its neighboring countries.
Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) and the United States Marine Corps launched the Resolute Dragon exercise on June 20, taking place across the southwestern Kyushu region and Okinawa Prefecture and lasting over a week, according to Japan’s Nikkei Asia.
The GSDF plans to deploy its US-made V-22 Osprey military transport aircraft from Camp Saga, Kyushu, to Miyako Island in Okinawa for the first time. The drill will include transporting simulated casualties from the island to the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Okinawa.
The military drill, focused on island defense operations, has been held annually since 2021. About 9,600 personnel from both nations will participate in the exercise, which will include live-fire drills, combat exercises and logistics transport training at GSDF garrisons and training grounds, among other locations.
This is the first time a GSDF unit operating long-range missiles has participated in the joint exercise. The unit was deployed to Camp Kengun in Kumamoto in March. This also marks the first time SDF transport ships Nihonbare and Yoko have been used in military drills, according to Japan News. Last year, the London Maritime Academy reported that the vessels were part of a unit focused on enhancing maritime logistics.
Residents of Yamato Town in Kumamoto Prefecture recently submitted a protest letter to authorities, voicing concerns over the US military holding low-altitude training flights using Osprey transport aircraft during the exercises.
The protesters also warned that the joint military exercises could disturb regional peace and stability, and further heighten tensions between Japan and its neighbors.
Liu Shuliang, an associate researcher at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, said Japan is strengthening its military cooperation with foreign partners and deepening coordination with the US, seeking to build a clique-based and confrontational military arrangement.
“Japan’s continued strengthening of security cooperation with the US and other countries is widely seen as part of its broader push toward remilitarization,” he said.
By leveraging military cooperation with foreign countries, Japan is further expanding its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, a move that could intensify regional tensions and undermine stability, Liu added.
“It may also trigger a chain reaction among neighboring countries, prompting higher military spending and faster defense modernization, thereby fueling an arms race and worsening the regional security dilemma,” he said.
Liu said that since the end of World War II, Japan has long tried to portray itself as a peace-loving nation, adhering to an exclusively defense-oriented policy and cultivating a moderate image globally.
“However, recent years have witnessed a fundamental transformation in Japan’s defense and security policies, with the country accelerating a shift that many observers view as remilitarization,” he said.
By steadily expanding the scope of its postwar security policies and loosening the constraints of its pacifist constitution, Japan is accelerating a shift toward remilitarization. Under the banner of becoming a “normal nation”, it risks undermining the peace-oriented image it has cultivated since World War II and moving toward “a new form of militarism”, Liu said.
Chen Hong, director of East China Normal University’s Asia-Pacific Studies Centre in Shanghai, said the US has been a key driver behind Japan’s accelerated remilitarization, giving political and strategic support for its widening military role.
In an effort to maintain its declining hegemony and strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region, the US has been gradually easing postwar military constraints on Japan, he said.
Contact the writers at liujianqiao@chinadaily.com.cn
