Japan's move to woo US military could invite society's backlash

Sources in Japan's Cabinet revealed last Friday that some in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have suggested that Japan seek "unification" with the United States for the three security documents it plans to revise in 2022.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said recently that Japan will revise the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Program Guidelines and the Medium-Term Defense Program by the end of 2022, and start consultations in this regard by the end of 2021. The security documents of the two countries follow different standards, making communication on the issue difficult. But that could change if the security documents follow a unified system and standards. It is against this backdrop that some pro-US LDP members have called for the unification of Japan-US security documents.

Recent US administrations have tried to shift their strategic focus to the Far East, the so-called Indo-Pacific, and the security treaty with Japan is viewed as the cornerstone of the US military's presence in the region. If Japan seeks to standardize its security documents with those of the US, the US would be able to make use of Japanese defense resources for its own strategies more conveniently.

Unifying the Japan-US security document system also means strengthening Japan's determination to forge a military alliance with the US and curry favor with Washington.

In fact, it is no secret that Japan seeks to integrate fully with the US defense system. At the end of November, Japan's Defense Ministry proposed another big increase in its military spending to 5.47 trillion yen ($48 billion) for fiscal year 2022 to satisfy US demands. On Dec 8, Japan and the US launched a joint military exercise in northeastern Japan. Multiple Japanese Cabinet sources said not long ago that Japan plans to provide more than 1 trillion yen to the US military stationed in Japan over five years starting from fiscal year 2022. That means Japan will bear more of the costs of US forces in Japan.

However, quite different from the rightist tendency in Japanese politics, there is a lack of interest toward the concept of "enhanced defense" with the US in Japanese society. In particular, there are many complaints about the long-term presence and continuous strengthening of the US forces in Japan. The Japanese Cabinet's plan to pay for US troops in Japan will surely trigger a strong backlash from the Japanese society.