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Japan's army: From water boys
to fighters?
By Axel Berkofsky
Troops in the Indian
Ocean, requests to revise the constitution, launching
spy satellites over East Asia and getting more or less
ready to deploy Japanese soldiers to Iraq. Quite a few
issues are on Japan's security-policy agenda, giving
reason for some to believe that Japan is throwing
overboard what is left of its pacifist principles and
the reputation of being one of the few remaining
"peace-loving" nations on the globe.
Far from
it, counter Japan's armed forces, who believe the
country is merely giving the United States a helping
hand fighting international terrorism and evil-doers in
Japan's own neighborhood.
The Japanese
government also finds nothing dramatic about Japan doing
what all the other (more or less) "normal nations" do,
assuring overly alarmist columnists and concerned
neighbors that it is not transforming its security
policy from "defense-oriented" to "expansive" just yet.
Beginning to take care of its own defense,
preparing for the worst with regards to North Korea and
buying US military hardware just like everybody else
will hardly turn Japan into a military bully, the
country's pro-defense crowd likes to add.
Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi for his part doesn't seem to
mind some exaggeration about the level of his country's
aggressiveness if he can still make it on to the front
pages every once in a while for something other than bad
news on Japan's economic mess.
Not for very much
longer, though, thinks Brad Glosserman, director of
research at the Honolulu-based Pacific Forum CSIS, who
maintains that Japan's enthusiasm in defense and
security issues can only be temporary.
"Japan's
current activism is unsustainable. The country has
neither the interest nor the resources to continue on
its current trajectory," Glosserman wrote in a Japan
Times article this month. In fact, he added, Japan
didn't have much of a choice. "The government has had to
focus on security policies because it had no other
accomplishments of note. Its economic agenda is dead in
the water."
For the time being though, Japan
remains busy getting rid of its image as a military
laughing-stock.
If the first leakage to the
press is to be trusted, the government is planning to
set up an office within the Cabinet Secretariat to file
a bill for permanent legislation authorizing the
deployment of troops. Unlike now, the military could
then be sent off to keep or enforce the peace globally
without filing a new law every time missions go beyond
earthquake disaster relief exercises in downtown Tokyo.
The idea of filing a bill authorizing Japanese
troops to go wherever the United Nations (or United
States) wants them to go has been out there for some
time, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda is ready
to offer something in cold print. He huddled up with a
couple of like-minded colleagues some time ago and
drafted an outline of the bill, planning to submit it
during the next ordinary parliamentary session. If
Fukuda gets his way, parliament will be excluded
altogether from the decision whether or not to dispatch
troops and the armed forces will officially be charged
with "global contributions to maintain international
peace".
"The law is necessary for Japan to
continue to be part of the international community,"
Fukuda warned, eager to see the law implemented before
Japan gets expelled from international politics.
Away from overly dramatic rhetoric and back to
scenarios that find a reference in real life, the
Defense Agency is planning to establish a standing unit
of troops exclusively in charge of peacekeeping, hunting
down terrorists and other "overseas operations". To make
it official, the Defense Agency wants Japan to sign up
with the UN Standby Arrangement System, joining those
nations ready to keep the peace upon request.
And Japan wants "real" armed forces, too. For
those who thought that a US$50 billion military is not a
real army just because they are called "Self-Defense
Forces", the government has relief. The ruling Liberal
Democratic Party's (LDP) panel on constitutional reform
recently suggested rewriting the constitution to
stipulate that Japan maintains armed forces instead of
civilians in uniform with an image problem.
No
reason to worry about reversing the country's basic
security-policy principles here either, maintained the
panel before the press had a chance to claim just that.
Besides, the argument goes, this proposal has been more
or less on the agenda since the US "imposed" a
democratic constitution on Japan in 1947.
Brand-new, on the other hand, are the
government's plans to establish a permanent security
advisory body resembling the US National Security
Council (NSC). This body, composed of officials from
various ministries, would report directly to the prime
minister, complementing Japan's Security Council.
Whereas the Security Council's session time is limited,
the advisory body would be able to advise and update the
prime minister on international security whenever
terrorists, North Koreans or other evil-doers strike.
Deputy Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is on the
forefront of those "concerned" ("obsessed", say others)
with national-security issues, wanting more
decision-making power for the prime minister and his
cabinet. Abe thinks there must be someone with a direct
channel to the prime minister, leaving it open for now
whether he himself wants to be the one with the hotline
to the very top.
Koizumi, it turns out, could
indeed need some good advice as he finds himself under
pressure to live up to the promise he gave his allies in
Washington to dispatch troops to Iraq.
Although a
bill authorizing the dispatch of Japanese troops to Iraq
is expected to become law this Friday, the government
has already announced that dispatching troops to Iraq
will take place later than the initially announced "as
early as possible". Just when the United States (yet
again) urged the Japanese government to dispatch troops
to Balad, a city 90 kilometers north of Baghdad, Koizumi
announced that his troops are not going anywhere before
November.
The United States, of
course, was not amused about Japan's rejection of
helping out in Iraq and, unlike British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, Koizumi is unlikely to find an invitation to
the US Congress in his mail any time soon. Which is too
bad, because Koizumi could use some standing ovations in
Congress before facing the LDP presidential election on
the home front on September 20.
The prime
minister gave it another shot and proposed sending
troops to Baghdad airport to provide drinking water for
US troops instead. After the US declined that offer,
Japan's military took over, trying to make sure that it
at least is welcome in Iraq.
Before deploying
troops, the Defense Agency is planning to distribute
fliers in Arabic advertising the Japanese military's
activities as being for the "benefit" of the Iraqi
population. With this public relations blitz, the
officials hope to win the "hearts and minds" of the
Iraqi population, sparing their troops from ambushes
faced by those who must have forgotten to bring their
share of fliers along when invading Iraq.
Japan's military, it turns out, also has a
backup plan if psychological-warfare tactics should
fail. Defense Agency officials and high-ranking officers
are thinking about training Japanese troops to fight
guerrillas and terrorists when push comes to shove. In a
few weeks, the military promises, elite soldiers could
be able to deal with Iraqi suicide bombers and guerrilla
attacks.
On second thought, choosing to deliver
bad news on Japan's ailing economy over reports on
Japanese soldiers returning home in body bags might not
be such a bad idea for Prime Minister Koizumi after all.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
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