Vol. 75/No. 1      January 10, 2011

Tokyo’s current military posture, a vestige of the Cold War, is still largely based on being prepared for an attack from Russia, the justification offered by imperialists at the time. Under the new plan, the Japanese government will build new bases on several of its small islands closest to China, expand its submarine fleet, increase “intelligence-gathering,” and extend the deployment of Aegis-equipped destroyers and Patriot missiles. “Since the last defense-program guidelines came out, our national-security environment has changed dramatically, including the situations in North Korea and China,” said Jun Azumi, vice minister of defense.

Tokyo is among Washington’s key allies in its campaign to pressure the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to give up its nuclear program. The Japanese government has also found itself in conflicts with Beijing, the most recent being in September when Tokyo briefly detained the crew of a Chinese trawler that collided with two Japanese coast guard vessels in waters claimed by both countries.

“Japan’s development and prosperity cannot be divorced from China’s development and prosperity,” warned the Chinese People’s Daily after that incident. “Japan cannot afford the price of continued contention with China.” Roughly 20 percent of Japan’s foreign trade is with China, more than any other single country.

Tokyo’s military plan includes continuing to spend $2.2 billion per year through 2016 to cover some of the expense of maintaining 47,000 U.S. troops on bases in Japan. That budget had been cut repeatedly over the previous 10 years under public pressure, including large protests on the island of Okinawa against U.S. military presence there.

U.S. troops have been stationed in Japan ever since the end of World War II. Under the “Peace Constitution” Washington imposed on Tokyo, the Japanese army and navy were dissolved and replaced with the Self-Defense Force, empowered only to defend the country, or if unable to do so, to call upon U.S. troops to aid it. No Japanese troops were to be sent abroad.

The constitution renounced possession of “offensive” weapons and nuclear arms. But Tokyo’s annual military spending exceeds $50 billion, ranking sixth in the world, ahead of Germany. In 2003 hundreds of Japanese troops were sent on a foreign mission for the first time since World War II, joining the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

As they scramble to hold onto their place in the world market, the Japanese capitalists are confronting their military limitations. Following an exchange of fire between the South Korean and North Korean militaries in late November, Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan suggested Tokyo could send troops to evacuate Japanese citizens living in South Korea, arousing tension between Seoul and the Japanese government. Japan was the colonial ruler of Korea in the first half of the 20th century.  
 
 
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