Surrounded by hostile neighbours, Japan has woken from its post-war pacifism to ramp up defence spending and form new military alliances in the region.
. “How the agenda is framed and deployed will determine if it effectively shapes Chinese engagement for the better, as Japan’s past efforts have mostly done. If the agenda keeps markets open and strengthens the multilateral system, it will curb Washington’s worst instincts,”Next week, Kishida will travel to Africa as part of his latest diplomatic charm offensive to win over the huge group of developing nations collectively known as the Global South.
Japan has become a critical ally for the United States in the Indo-Pacific alongside Australia. Japan and South Korea are also putting aside historical grievances to work together on regional security. South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol was the first president from the country to visit Japan in 12 years last month.
Former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated last year, believed Tokyo needed to do more to counter China’s growing aggression in the region and instigated the first meaningful shift in Japan’s defence policies. As well as upping defence spending, in 2014 he reinterpreted Japan’s constitution to enable Japan to help an ally if it was under attack. He coined the shift in thinking as “active pacificism”.
“I had expected Kishida to make more peaceful diplomatic efforts than Prime Minister Abe, but he is now making his decisions to increase defence budgets, et cetera, based on the recent international situation, especially in Ukraine,” Tasato Chiyoki, a local council member on the remote Japanese island of Yonaguni, toldTasato Chiyoki, a local council member on the remote Japanese island of Yonaguni, is worried about Japan’s increased military spending.
Japan is fortifying islands like Yonaguni on the Okinawa archipelago in an attempt to deter its enemies. Russia has already occupied disputed islands off Japan’s north, known in Moscow as the Southern Kurils and the Northern Territories in Tokyo. Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine makes it unlikely Moscow will ever relinquish its claim to those islands.
While Japan is copping more flak from China than Australia these days, Tokyo is confident about where Canberra’s loyalties lie. Still, diplomats say it is too early for Japan to join the three-way AUKUS agreement between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
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