Intelligence-sharing networks need reliable and trustworthy partners. Japan is an obvious choice for the Western-dominated “Five Eyes” spy alliance, made up of the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Tokyo’s inclusion in the club is long overdue, especially as the region combats China’s growing assertiveness and the unpredictability of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
The group should not waste any more time to take advantage of Tokyo’s expertise. It has one of the world’s biggest intelligence-gathering establishments and has long had eyes on China and North Korea, both considered among the nation’s biggest security threats. That knowledge would prove invaluable for the Washington-led coalition, under pressure from an increasingly hostile environment.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s trip to Tokyo last week to strengthen security cooperation is another reminder of that reality. Beijing’s influence is growing, economically and militarily. China last week launched the largest number of its naval vessels around Taiwan since 2022 in yet another attempt to intimidate the self-ruled nation that Beijing claims as its own.
Illustration: Yusha
Meanwhile, Washington’s other Asian allies, South Korea and the Philippines, are increasingly unstable. Seoul is contending with mass protests, the result of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s disastrous decision to temporarily impose martial law on Dec. 3. He is facing an impending impeachment vote, and on Thursday said he would not step down. In Manila, a war is brewing between the archipelago’s two ruling families, the Marcoses and the Dutertes, which could spell more uncertainty ahead.
Japan, even with its own recent political upheaval that saw Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba lose his parliamentary majority, is currently the US’ most reliable Asian partner. Still, for any intelligence sharing to work well, Tokyo would need to address its own security weaknesses, in particular the robustness of its cybersecurity and data systems. The US last year warned Japan that Chinese state hackers had infiltrated its defense networks before Tokyo took sufficient action to secure them.
It is clear that Tokyo’s move in 2013 to pass the country’s first-ever law addressing top-secret material across defense and diplomacy just was not enough to protect national secrets. More work needs to be done. Japan is already ramping up defense spending in recognition of the threats, a move welcomed by its allies. It should also properly invest in strengthening cybersecurity capabilities.
Part of the issue is historical. After World War II, the government hesitated to create an intelligence community, because public opinion was opposed. Tokyo still does not have the equivalent of the CIA or the UK’s MI6, making it difficult for Japan to contribute any human intelligence services — such as spying, reconnaissance and espionage activities — to Five Eyes.
In order for Tokyo to join the grouping, it should understand the standards that all partners meet and develop a separate department in charge of vetting government personnel with access to information that is classified using common standards and procedures, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said. That would give staff different levels of clearance, which in turn would limit access to classified information.
Tokyo does manage seven high-performance reconnaissance information-gathering satellites that are extremely advanced and able to identify a human head from outer space. Those have the advantage of being trained on East Asian areas, such as China, North Korea and Russia. That would be a huge advantage for Five Eyes and makes Japan an attractive sixth member.
There is precedence for that. An intelligence leak from 2013 revealed that the alliance had additional intelligence-sharing levels: Nine Eyes and 14 Eyes. Israel, Singapore, Japan and South Korea have all been informal partners within these frameworks. Tokyo’s elevation to the Five Eyes level could boost Asia’s security outlook even further.
The signs are pointing toward an eventual inclusion. In the middle of last month, the alliance reportedly held its first meeting in Japan with senior enlisted personnel of all members. Those efforts should continue, to help pave the way for a complete integration in the future.
Beijing would see including Tokyo in the global spy club as yet another way for the West to try to contain China. However, in a world increasingly lacking in leadership, the intelligence-sharing network could help prevent crises before they begin.
Karishma Vaswani is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia politics with a special focus on China. Previously, she was the BBC’s lead Asia presenter and worked for the BBC across Asia and South Asia for two decades.
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