“There is no option for us to be in a military conflict. We should not be in an arms race but rather aiming to reduce arms in the future,” Okada said.
Japan is struggling with its worst postwar recession, while China was its top two-way trading partner and its biggest export market last year — after the US.
The DPJ reacted cautiously last week to a government defense review that recommended easing constitutional constraints to allow Japan’s military to expand cooperation with the US. In truth, its circumspection reflects splits within the party about how far to go, if at all, in loosening the US leash.
Nor will the US voluntarily relax its close embrace just because some new faces show up at Tokyo head office next month. Harvard professor Joseph Nye said Washington attaches high priority to its Japanese alliance. Shared concerns ranging from China to pandemics, terrorism and failed states would bind the US and Japan more closely than ever in the 21st century, he predicted.
It’s a lesson other long-time US allies have learned. Whatever DPJ leaders may think, there’s no escaping the US when it doesn’t want to be escaped.
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