Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, fresh off a successful official visit to the United States, where he focused largely on security issues, has returned home to follow through on longstanding promises to submit crucial defense-reform legislation to the Japanese Diet. Last Thursday, his cabinet adopted two security bills that will now be put before Japan’s legislators. According to the Japan Times:
One of the two bills would amend 10 security-related laws, removing some restrictions on SDF operations. One of the revisions would allow Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defense, or the right to come to the aid of a friendly nation under attack. . . . The second bill would create a permanent law allowing the government to dispatch the SDF overseas to provide logistics support to a foreign force engaged in armed combat.
While maintaining tight restrictions on when collective self-defense can be invoked, and limiting the general law on deployment to logistics support, the bills nevertheless are a significant move toward normalizing the activities of the Self-Defense Forces. They will open up new areas of cooperation, while making it easier for Japan to discuss common operations with its allies.
Yet not all is assured for the Japanese premier. What Abe is really trying to do is change the trajectory of post-war Japanese history, to shift the mindset of his countrymen. It is therefore no surprise that he faces significant opposition at home to his plans, with half the respondents in recent polls indicating opposition to an expanded security role for Japanese forces. Japan’s pacifist post-war constitution, written by American occupation forces, helped instill a strong aversion to military activity of nearly any kind. Despite the oft-voiced concerns and criticisms of Japan’s neighbors over the years that Tokyo was flirting with remilitarization, Japan’s populace has been steadfastly opposed to any overseas entanglements. So, for that matter, have most of its post-1945 governments.
The balancing act that Abe is engaged in hinges on making transformative changes that will not threaten to turn Japan into an offensively based military actor. In other words, he is trying to avoid making such radical moves that he galvanizes opposition strong enough to halt his progress. At the same time, he is trying to permanently tear down the barriers that have hindered Japan’s armed forces from operating like those of other nations.
Abe surely knew that there would always be a hard core of opposition to his plans, but he has been banking on two things going in his favor: first, that the public is worried enough about China’s rise and North Korea’s threat to accept a broader role for the Japanese military, and second, that the very act of firm leadership would not only overcome opposition but even win fresh support.
Submitting the legislation is a major step for Abe. Up to now, he has made many promises but not taken much concrete action. That is now beginning to change, however, and as his legislative majority passes the new defense bills, as it undoubtedly will, his plans for deepening cooperation with America and for creating new security relations with other Asian nations takes on added life. Just last week, two Japanese naval vessels conducted the first-ever Japanese–Philippines maritime exercises. This, with a nation embroiled in a bitter dispute with China over territory in the South China Sea.
Tokyo may be years away from forming any real alliances with countries in the region, let alone from coming to their aid during times of crisis, but the steps that Abe is taking to make all that more possible should help stabilize Asia’s balance of power. That all this is being done in a measured, democratic way through Japan’s elected representatives should reduce any fears, both of those in the country and of those outside it, that irresponsible ultranationalists are hijacking Japanese security policy. Instead, the normalization of Japan’s role, in concert with its American ally and new partners, is the best path forward to ease Japan into a more responsible and productive leadership role in Asia.
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