Tokyo's new militarism leading Japan astray: China Daily editorial

The focus of the upcoming high-level meetings between Japan and the United States, which will culminate with a summit between US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on Friday, is security cooperation.

Right before the summit, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will join their US counterparts Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken in Washington for "2+2" security talks on Wednesday, which Hamaba said will discuss the "strengthening of deterrence" and the "response capability of the Japan-US alliance".

The upcoming US-Japan "2+2" security talks will reportedly synergize the two countries' national security strategies with the explicit strategic goal of containing China.

In addition, in his meeting with Biden, Kishida is expected to discuss revising the Guidelines for Japan-US Defense Cooperation. These stipulate the division of responsibilities between the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the US military.

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe made big strides toward remilitarizing Japan, and Kishida's government is advancing further along that path as it seeks to revive Japan as a regional military power.

To realize such an ambition, Japan has not only taken steps to beef up its own military, but is also using the country's military alliance with the US to draw the latter closer to it by voluntarily serving as a strategic pawn of the US in Washington's implementation of its "Indo-Pacific" strategy.

On Dec 16, the Japanese Cabinet approved three defense documents, the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Program Guidelines and the Mid-Term Defense Program, which pave the way for Japan's biggest post-war build-up of its defense forces.

Under the plan, Japan will spend 43 trillion yen ($313 billion) in the next five years to boost its military muscle, including buying cruise missiles "capable of striking China".

Japan's National Security Strategy breaks the country's constitutional principle of force exclusively for defense by granting the country first-strike capability. Yet Tokyo should beware acting in haste in its desire for Japan to be viewed as a military power. Japan's role in the US' regional strategy will gradually develop from supporting it as the so-called "shield" to becoming a "spear". This means that in the future, Japan will be further included in the strategic plans of the US, and the possibility of Japan and the US joining hands to cause trouble in the region will continue to increase, with Japan as pointman for the US.

Both Tokyo and Washington need to be reminded that the foundation for postwar peace in East Asia is a demilitarized Japan, governed by its so-called pacifist Constitution. This is part of the international order that Washington and Tokyo have been trumpeting the values of and wrongly accuses China of challenging.

Regrettably, the US-Japan military alliance is being reshaped into a tool for bloc confrontation thanks to the two allies' mutual intent to contain China and fish for their own strategic gains in the Asia-Pacific region.