The Japanese Ministry of Defense’s 2014 annual white paper pointed to the ongoing sovereignty disputes with China, North Korea and Russia over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands, as primary security threats.
However, constrained by the provision of pacifism outlined in Article 9 of Japan’s constitution, Tokyo is unable to initiate a war of aggression or participate in any UN-approved collaborative self-defense forces. It can only act in its own national defense.
Facing a shift in regional power in Asia and growing external threats, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has started to seek strategies to change the situation: strengthening collaborative security relations with NATO; amending the pacifist constitution’s three principles on weapons imports; and passing the new security bill, which lifts the ban on collective self-defense activities. These issues highlight Abe’s strategic intent to make the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) active beyond Japanese shores.
Abe has said that the security relations between Asia and Europe are interconnected, and that Japan and NATO equally value the rule of law and therefore cooperation is very important. Japanese Ambassador to Belgium Masafumi Ishii once said: “Improved cooperation with NATO facilitates the strengthening of Japan’s international position in the Asia-Pacific region, and joint exercises with NATO help improve the operational standards of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.”
Ishii also said that if Japan wants to become a regional power once again, it must play the part, by initially taking decisive steps to ensure security and crisis prevention. Last year, Japan signed the Individual Partnership and Cooperation Program with NATO, which contains several cooperative projects in the areas of human rights, cybersecurity, information exchange, transfer of defense equipment, among others.
The new security bill promoted by the Japanese government contains complementary measures to the restored right to collective self-defense. Many Japanese experts believe that if Japan collaborates with NATO, the JSDF will be able to join joint defense operations and naturally extend Japan’s right to self-defense, which will give the nation more autonomy when facing any threat or conducting security-related operations in its area of jurisdiction.
Abe has said that the purpose of amending the constitution and related laws is to provide non-military, humanitarian aid. Yet NATO now urgently hopes that Japan will play a supportive role in carrying out humanitarian aid. Cooperation between NATO and Japan is indeed complementary.
The primary reason behind the cooperation between Japan and NATO is nothing more than the mutually shared threat of Russia and China. As far as Japan is concerned, teaming up with NATO is quite an important power factor. In addition to increasing the strength of its military to contend with third-party countries, it gives Japan more bargaining chips when dealing with other countries, especially in situations when Japan feels that external threats go beyond what its self-defense abilities can handle. Its combined power with NATO will be able to prevent any hostile forces from growing too strong.
NATO and the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security are the two strongest international military alliances in the world. Although the cooperation between Japan and NATO is not an alliance in name, it is in practice, which raises the question of whether cooperation is a strategic response to Russia’s and China’s closer cooperation.
Huang Huei-hua is an assistant research fellow at the Taiwan Brain Trust.
Translated by Zane Kheir
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