International observation： Japan’s military expansion threatens peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region

　　A few days ago, the China-Japan security dialogue was held again after four years. One of the most important topics is Japan’s security and military trend. China has expressed serious concern about this and the international community is also highly concerned about it.

　　Japan’s security military policy is undergoing the most serious transformation since its defeat and surrender in World War II. Recently, the Kishida government revised and completed the National Security Assurance Strategy, National Defense Strategy, Defence Force Maintenance Plan and Three Security Documents, abandoned the principle of "exclusively defending", lifted the so-called "counterattack capability" and benchmarked NATO standards, greatly increased the defense budget to 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP), which deviated from the pacifist concept of the Japanese Constitution and released a dangerous signal of returning to the road of becoming a military power. By revising the "Three Security Documents", the Kishida government completed the operation of "fundamentally strengthening the defense force" assigned by the United States to Japan during Biden’s visit to Japan in May 2022.

　　On the basis of promoting the offensive and export-oriented transformation of security military strategy, Japan has stepped up its efforts to promote military integration between Japan and the United States. At the beginning of the new year in 2023, Japan and the United States held "2+2" talks with foreign ministers and defense chiefs, strengthened strategic coordination, and optimized comprehensive combat power based on the concept of joint operations. The joint document issued at the meeting supports Japan to "ensure" the reliability of the United States in strengthening containment and strategic deterrence by strengthening its defense capabilities. Since then, Kishida has made his first visit to the United States since he took office as prime minister. While presenting the "Three Security Documents" to the United States as "warlords", he emphasized that Japan’s security strategy and the United States’ security strategy are "on the same track and with the same frequency", and will focus on "Indo-Pacific" region to devote himself to security and economic cooperation, strengthen the alliance’s deterrent ability and coping ability, and promote the modernization of Japan-US relations facing the 21st century. Japan and the United States also stressed that in support of NATO’s "expanding its involvement in India and Pacific", Japan will "strengthen its cooperative relations with NATO and play a leading role among NATO’s Asia-Pacific partners".

　　Driven by the desire to strengthen the Japan-US alliance and military powers, Japan actively introduced NATO into the Asia-Pacific region and promoted its strategic docking with the Japan-US alliance. After the Ukrainian crisis broke out in February 2022, Japan greatly strengthened its strategic and security interaction with NATO, including attending the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting for the first time, attending the NATO Military Committee Chief of Staff Meeting for the first time, officially joining the NATO Cyber Defense Center, and attending the NATO Leaders’ Summit for the first time. In January 2023, NATO Secretary-General visited Japan again after six years, and together with Japan, he rendered the so-called "the world is in the most severe and complicated security environment since the end of World War II", emphasizing that "Indo-Pacific" and European security are inseparable, and advocated the establishment of a "stronger relationship" between the two sides. The joint statement issued by the two sides emphasized the need for security cooperation in military, information, network and space fields.

　　Japan’s efforts to link up the United States and Europe and strengthen group politics while strengthening its military skills will inevitably lead to division and confrontation in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States and NATO, led by it, all pursue the ultra-realistic strategic concept of confronting competitors from their strength and position, and regard China as "the biggest competitor" or "systematic challenge". Under the positive tandem of Japan, the current negative trends of "NATO’s Asia-Pacific" and "NATO’s Asia-Pacific" are rising in both directions, leading to a more complicated and severe regional situation. Japan’s move directly promoted regional factionalization and group confrontation, which led to the fragmentation of regional ties, especially the parallelization of regional cooperation, and damaged the stability of regional industrial chain supply chain system. Asia-Pacific is an important engine of the global economy. Peace and stability in this region are not only related to the future and destiny of the region, but also directly affect the future direction of the world economy and global politics.

　　In the long run, it is not in Japan’s interest to return to the road of military power and engage in camp confrontation. Before the war, it was under the route of "establishing a country by military means" that Japan finally embarked on the road of ruin. It’s not far to learn from the snake’s greed and forget its tail. Under the background of its persistent economic downturn and the aging of its young children, Japan, which is forgetful, will inevitably lead to another national policy mistake if it once again pours its limited national resources into the bottomless military field to consolidate the army, expand its military and prepare for war. Relying on the Japan-US alliance and relying on NATO’s external force to implement multilateral containment against neighboring countries will not only stimulate the regional arms race, but also bring strategic and security risks to Japan. Imagine that Japan’s so-called "counterattack" when its allies and "friends" are attacked is undoubtedly at its own risk of being involved in American foreign wars. The United States is not an Asian country, so it can leave when something happens, while Japan in East Asia has nowhere to hide.

　　Japan should not force itself to be the "western overbearing eagle dog" warned by Sun Yat-sen a hundred years ago. Japan keeps opposing "changing the status quo with strength", but its so-called "status quo" is actually a tampered "status quo", which is an unjust result distorted with the tampering of Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation by the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951. Japan rambles and tries to create a systematic multilateral containment situation against its neighbors. To put it bluntly, it is only to safeguard its illegitimate interests illegally seized after the war. Japan followed the United States in exaggerating the "China threat" and strengthened the proportion of military elements in foreign relations, exposing the failure of its Asian diplomacy and its lack of confidence in the face of its neighbors; The deep background is that Japan made a one-sided peace with the United States and other countries in order to turn over the page of the war of aggression at a low cost after the war, which led to the absence of reconciliation and mutual trust with its Asian neighbors.

　　Germany is not alone, there must be neighbors. Asian countries are neighbors that cannot move away from each other. Together, all countries form a community of destiny for security and development. As an Asian country, Japan’s security and prosperity can only be achieved if regional peace and stability are maintained. The Asia-Pacific region is not a big country arena, and group politics and camp confrontation will only destroy the free trade system from which Japan itself benefits. At present, Japan needs to face up to the reality, take a long-term view, adhere to the post-war pacifism concept, strive to enhance mutual trust and cooperation with its Asian neighbors through exchanges and dialogues, and play an active role in maintaining regional peace and stability. Only by doing so can it really benefit the region and save Japan itself.

　　(The author is a researcher at the New Era Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought Research Center, the supreme leader of China Academy of Social Sciences.)