Assertive role for Japan in US defense deal
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Japan and the United States unveiled new guidelines for defense cooperation yesterday, reflecting Japan’s willingness to take on a more robust international role.
The first revision to the guidelines since 1997 allows for global cooperation militarily, ranging from defense against ballistic missile, cyber and space attacks and maritime security, following a Japanese Cabinet resolution last year reinterpreting Japan’s pacifist constitution to allow the exercise of the right to “collective self-defense.”
The guidelines mean Japan could shoot down missiles heading toward the United States and come to the aid of third countries under attack.
A centerpiece of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s US visit this week, the guidelines are part of Abe’s wider signal that Japan is ready to take more responsibility for its security.
In return, the conservative Japanese leader, who is scheduled to meet US President Barack Obama today, has been seeking fresh assurances that America comes to Japan’s aid if necessary in a clash with China.
Announced after a meeting of US and Japanese foreign and defense ministers in New York, the guidelines eliminate geographic restrictions that had largely limited joint work to the defense of Japan and the surrounding area, a senior US official said.
“We will be able to do globally what we’ve been able to do in the defense of Japan and regionally,” the official said, saying the guidelines meant Japan “can respond to attacks on third countries; not just the US.”
The changes would allow greater coordination and information sharing, for example, in missile defense, and allow Japan to shoot down any missiles heading for US territory or to defend US ships engaged in missile-defense in the vicinity of Japan, he said.
They would also allow increased cooperation in cybersecurity and defense of assets in space, the US official said.
Asked if the updated guidelines were a response to China’s growing power and assertiveness, the official said they would strengthen the US alliance system at an important time and reflected Asia’s growing importance, but that such moves were “not aimed at any single country.”
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