BEIJING – War, battle: this is the meaning of the kanji (character) chosen by the Japanese a few days ago to better describe this 2022 which is ending. Appropriate choice: Russian conflict in Ukraine, North Korean missile threats, sure. But an appropriate choice also because with the new national defense doctrine just unveiled by the Japanese government, Tokyo it significantly distances itself from the historic pacifism that characterized the Land of the Rising Sun from the second post-war period to today. Initiating a monstrous military rearmament that will equip it with missiles capable of eventually hitting China.
In the three documents presented by the executive led by the conservative Fumio Kishida there are historical news. The defense budget will be doubled over the next five years, from 1 to 2 percent of gross domestic product, making Japan the third largest defense spender behind the United States and China. Just China, in the new doctrine, is now defined as “the greatest strategic challenge that Japan has ever faced”. Beijing he has already protested and alluded to the brutal Japanese militarism of the last century of which China was indeed one of the most illustrious victims: “Having exaggerated the ‘Chinese threat’ to find an excuse for its own military strengthening is doomed to fail”. The most important novelty, however, concerns those “counterattack capabilities” in case of emergency that will allow to hit sites in enemy territory. Already in 2014 Tokyo had changed the interpretation of its Constitution in order to be able to intervene alongside a threatened ally, but now with the new formulation it goes further. However, Tokyo assures, they will not be preemptive attacks. It is in any case Japan’s most significant departure from the pacifist position sanctioned by its Constitution imposed by the Americans at the end of the Second World War.
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Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution reads: “The people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.” The new counterattack capability is now defined as “minimum necessary self-defense measure” and is limited to “military targets”, such as missile bases. New doctrine will ‘strengthen and modernize’ military alliance with US, says White House security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The new text provides for a military purchase program for the next five years: an outlay of 43 trillion yen (295 billion euros). About 3.5 billion are earmarked for missile systems, including the American Tomahawk missiles, to deter Chinese, Russian and North Korean threats. The war in Ukraine, the missiles of Pyongyang and this summer’s Chinese exercises around Taiwan helped accelerate Japan’s new posture. The range of the missiles will be extended, so that they can hit distant targets such as mainland China and be launched from land, air or sea: they will allow Tokyo to hit ships and targets 1,000 km away. Currently Japanese missiles can fly a few hundred kilometers at most. To better coordinate air, sea and land forces, Japan will establish its first joint command center.
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“The security environment surrounding Japan is changing rapidly,” Kishida said at a press conference after the documents were approved. “I will determinedly carry out my mission as prime minister to protect and defend the nation and the people.”