Japan and US reveals updated defense guidelines

Asia-Pacific, News, US April 27, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

The US and Japan have revealed new defense guidelines, expected to be revealed Monday as PM Shinzo Abe is on a visit to Washington, which may cause considerable unease in China.

Under the revised guidelines, Japan would be able to come to the aid of US forces threatened by another country and would be able to deploy minesweepers to the Middle East, officials said.

The agreement is the result of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s drive to shed many of the limits placed on his armed forces under Japan’s postwar pacifist constitution. The new guidelines were unveiled at the start of Mr. Abe’s visit this week to the U.S., which will feature an address to Congress and meeting with President Barack Obama.

The revisions to Japan-US defense cooperation guidelines are the first since 1997, and reportedly reflects huge changes in Japanese security policy, according to Reuters. Currently the guidelines state that Japan will defend its own territory and “situations in areas surrounding Japan.”

This is widely interpreted as joining US forces in any possible conflict on the Korean Peninsula, where Japanese forces would give “rear area support” to the US.

“These guidelines eliminate the geographic restriction on US-Japan cooperation,” a senior US defense reporter told reporters.

U.S. and Japanese officials said many details of implementing the new guidelines will need to be worked out. Still, U.S. officials ticked off a range of areas the agreement will allow stepped up cooperation, including minesweeping around the globe, missile defense, cyber and reconnaissance activities.

They follow a cabinet resolution last year that reinterprets Japan’s pacifist constitution which has been in place since the end of the Second World War. This still needs to be formalized by legislation later this year but will basically allow for Japan’s military to provide logistical support to US forces beyond Japan’s immediate neighborhood without a specific law being passed each time.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (L) and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (2nd L) attend a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (3rd R) and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter (not pictured) in New York April 27, 2015 (Reuters / Seth Wenig)

The details of the new guidelines are expected to be revealed on Monday when the Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and the Defense Minister Nakatani meet US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Defense Secretary Ash Carter in New York. The meeting is the centerpiece of Abe’s visit.

Japan will also likely be looking for assurances from Washington that it will still come to Japan’s aid if necessary.

Meanwhile in Japan Abe’s critics say he wants to whitewash Japan’s wartime past while his conservative allies think it’s time after 70 years since the end of the war to take a greater role on the world stage and that fresh apologies are not needed.

The White House will be keen to capitalize on an emboldened Abe`s desire to put Japan back at the center of power in Asia, as China flexes its political and economic muscle.

China is surrounded by US bases from Thailand to South Korea. Beijing is concerned at Abe’s more nationalist outlook and his defiant stance on history and territorial issues, which contradict his claim that he is a defender of peace.

TCP/RT/WSJ