Japan double-dealing over security

Revised joint defense guidelines likely to be skewed against China

Japan is not shy of flaunting its powerful connections these days to contain China.

The US-Japan Security Consultative Committee convened a "two-plus-two meeting" in Tokyo on Oct 3, with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, and US Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel producing a joint a statement.

At Japan's request, the US has agreed to revise the two countries' defense cooperation guidelines by the end of next year. The Japanese ministers were said to have told their US counterparts about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to beef up Japan's security in light of growing territorial tensions with China in the East China Sea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's missile and nuclear threats.

Small wonder that Abe called the talks one of "historical significance".

Japan is trying to drastically change the strategic environment in the Asia-Pacific region. The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper laid bare Japan's intention. From the start of the meeting, "Kishida did not hide his concern about China," the Japanese newspaper said. Abe holds "a sense of crisis" about the ongoing dispute between the two countries over China's Diaoyu Islands. Japan bears these islands in mind when delving into the minutiae of the updated defense cooperation guidelines.

The two countries are likely to come out with new guidelines, including "seamless" or "all-inclusive" responses to every possible situation, Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The guidelines, which outline how Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the US military cooperate, was drawn up in 1978 so they could prepare for a possible attack on Japan by the Soviet Union. It was last revised in 1997, expanding the bilateral alliance to deal with emergencies in areas around Japan, such as those involving the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan.

In the joint statement issued after the two-plus-two talks, Japan and the US agreed to expand their security and defense cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. The US side said it welcomed Japan's determination to contribute more proactively to regional and global peace and security. In his recent overseas trips, Abe worked hard to sell his "proactive pacifism" and announced in New York that Japan should send its Self-Defense Forces to the other side of the world if necessary.

The more assignments the US gives Japan should mean that the Japanese government has to have the right to exercise collective self-defense with allies, and further, to revise its pacifist constitution.

Past Japanese administrations have adopted the interpretation that the country is not allowed to exercise collective self-defense.

Japan is making headway with establishing its National Security Council and issuing a National Security Strategy. It is re-examining the legal basis for sensitive issues including its right to collective self-defense, expanding its defense budget, reviewing national defense program guidelines, strengthening its military capability to defend disputed islands, and broadening regional cooperation, including defense capacity-building efforts with South Asian countries.

"The United States welcomed these efforts and reiterated its commitment to collaborate closely with Japan," the statement said.

Delivering a speech in Niigata city on Oct 4, Shigeru Ishiba, secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Japan should discuss which countries it would exercise the right of collective self-defense with. They should include all Asian countries except China, he said.

Ishiba was worried about a scenario where US power is declining relatively in the Asia-Pacific while China's influence gathers strength. He said the imbalance of power had presaged wars in human history, and so recommended that Japan also establish alliances with such countries as the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as the US.

But in an Asahi TV program on Oct 5, Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii criticized the US for moving Japan toward unjust wars by standing behind the Abe administration's attempt to exercise the right of collective self-defense.

In 2004, the US deputy secretary of state Richard Lee Armitage asked Japan to send its Self-Defense Forces warships to the Persian Gulf to cover the operations of the US fleet.

Shii said Japan should not pursue a path to take part in unjust wars.

Admiral Samuel Locklear, head of the US Pacific Command, said the Abe administration might need to revise Japan's constitution in light of the threat from countries such as the DPRK, because not preparing for that eventuality will increase that threat.

Still, Japan is trying to gang up with more countries. The foreign ministers of Japan, the US and Australia met for strategic talks in Bali, Indonesia, on Oct 5, focusing on China's naval activities and agreeing to cooperate in securing peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

The document they issued after the meeting noted "the importance of efforts to reduce tensions and to avoid miscalculations or accidents in the East China Sea, including by improving marine communications".

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in Tokyo that the US reiterated that while Washington takes no sides on the question of the sovereignty of the islands in the territorial dispute between China and Japan, it recognizes Japan's administration of them and has responsibilities to protect Japanese territory under a mutual defense treaty.

It is not difficult to see the holes in Hagel's remarks: the US will come to Japan's rescue even if these islands belong to China. Hagel sent a wrong signal, which could help escalate the tension between China and Japan. Japan's "administration" of China's Diaoyu Islands is untenable in international law because they are not Japan's territory.

Before leaving for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering in Bali, Abe said he will keep sending a message to Japan's neighbors that "doors for dialogue are open".

His double-dealing betrays him. He does not have the right cards on the table.

The author is China Daily's Tokyo bureau chief.