Dancing with the United States, Japan disrupts the Asia-Pacific and threatens regional peace and stability (Global Hotspot)
Recently, U.S. President Biden made his first trip to Asia in office, and Japan was an important stop on his itinerary.
During the period, Japan not only worked hard to cheer for the "Indo-Pacific strategy" of the United States, but also took the opportunity to strengthen its "sense of presence".
According to Kyodo News, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a high-profile announcement that he would fundamentally strengthen Japan's defense capabilities and increase defense spending.
Both Japan and the United States agreed to strengthen deterrence and response capabilities, including the "nuclear umbrella" provided by the United States.
For a period of time, Japan has been highly active in domestic and foreign affairs: while following the United States in creating a "small circle" in the Asia-Pacific, it has provoked camp confrontation; on the other hand, it has actively sought to expand its military and amend the constitution, trying to achieve "self-relaxation".
Japan's various actions not only pose a challenge to the post-World War II international order, but also seriously threaten the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, causing countries in the region to be highly vigilant.
Exposure to dangerous tendencies
Recently, from the meeting between the leaders of Japan and the United States, to Japan becoming one of the initial members of the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework", and then to the leaders' meeting of the "Quadrilateral Mechanism" between the United States, Japan, India and Australia, Japan took the opportunity to show "closeness" to the United States.
The outside world has noticed that the Japan-US leaders' meeting and the Japan-US joint statement are full of "gunpowder".
According to foreign media reports, the Japanese side expressed its plan and determination to increase its defense budget and establish a "counter-attack capability" during the talks, while the U.S. side pledged to use all forces, including nuclear weapons, to protect Japan's security.
The Japan-US joint statement issued after the meeting declared that the two sides would ensure the reliability and resilience of the US' "extended deterrence" against Japan, and pledged to strengthen the alliance's "deterrence and response capabilities."
The joint statement also made three or four points on issues such as the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea, spread negative remarks about China, interfered in China's internal affairs, and attacked China's foreign policy.
"During Biden's trip to Asia, Japan was highly active, and tried its best to incorporate some of its established policy positions and political demands into the Japan-US leaders' meeting and the Japan-US joint statement." Liu Jiangyong, a professor at the Department of International Relations at Tsinghua University, said in a statement. In an interview with this reporter, he pointed out.
After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Japan followed the United States and other Western countries to impose sanctions on Russia, and made continuous moves in politics, diplomacy, and military affairs, exposing many dangerous tendencies.
In early March, the Japanese government broke through the "Three Principles of Defense Equipment Transfer" and provided military material support to the Ukrainian army on the grounds that "Ukraine's response to threats to the international order is equivalent to maintaining Japan's security".
In recent months, Fumio Kishida and other Japanese politicians have intensively visited many countries in Europe and Asia. They have used various bilateral and multilateral occasions to forcibly link the Ukrainian crisis with the Asia-Pacific region, and intensively hyped up fallacies such as "East-West confrontation" and "China threat".
In May, Fumio Kishida and British Prime Minister Johnson reached a principled consensus to allow the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the British Army to achieve "mutual access".
At home, the Japanese government is running wildly on the road of amending the constitution and expanding the military.
In March, Fumio Kishida listed constitutional revision as a key item in the Liberal Democratic Party's electoral platform used in this summer's Senate election, saying that he would strive to "achieve it as soon as possible."
In April, the Liberal Democratic Party submitted proposals to Fumio Kishida on three documents, the "National Security Strategy", "Defense Plan Outline" and "Mid-term Defense Capacity Reinforcement Plan", requesting that Japan's defense budget be increased from the current GDP of about 1% to about 1%. 2% or more in order to meet the standards of NATO members, and continue to hype "security threats" from China, Russia, North Korea, etc.
In addition, Japanese politicians have frequently made "nuclear sharing" remarks recently, and openly discussed revising the "three non-nuclear principles" that they have committed to, and even deleted relevant expressions in the latest version of the national report submitted to the NPT Review Conference .
Seeking "self-releasing"
In 2016, the then Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, put forward the concept of a "free and open Indo-Pacific".
After that, the Trump administration of the United States proposed the "Indo-Pacific strategy", and the Biden administration further strengthened the "Indo-Pacific strategy".
Japan has always been an active participant and promoter of the US "Indo-Pacific strategy".
Liu Jiangyong pointed out that in recent years, in the face of China's development and growth, the United States, from the logic of realist power politics, believes that China poses a challenge to its global hegemony, so it tries to use its alliance system in the Asia-Pacific region to suppress and contain China's development. which plays an important role.
At the same time, Japan is also trying to use the game between China and the United States for its own benefit.
What needs to be vigilant is that today Japan is not only a "small follower" of the United States, but also tries to become the leader of the "Indo-Pacific strategy" together with the United States.
"Japan's diplomatic tendencies are highly influenced by its internal affairs." Lv Yaodong, a researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, analyzed to this reporter that in recent years, the Japanese political scene has generally been conservative and right-wing.
After Fumio Kishida came to power, he regarded "revision of the constitution" as one of the most important issues of the current government.
Under this influence, one of the major demands of Japan's diplomacy is to change post-war arrangements and completely get rid of the status of a "defeated country".
After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Japan regarded it as an opportunity to seek "self-releasing".
Judging from Japan's recent diplomatic trends, the first is to step up the consolidation of the Japan-US alliance; the second is to actively create topics and provoke conflicts; The purpose of cooperation, etc., is to pursue the status of a political and military power.
According to the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" report, on May 24, after the leaders' meeting of the "four-sided mechanism" of the United States, Japan, India and Australia, Fumio Kishida announced at a press conference that "we will promote extensive and pragmatic efforts to build a 'free and open Indo-Pacific'. s hard work".
He also said that in the future, he will continue to strengthen cooperation with "important partners" such as Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom in the field of security and defense.
Liu Jiangyong pointed out that the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" is under the banner of "freedom" and "openness".
But in fact, the so-called "freedom" is based on ideology; the so-called "open" is to engage in a closed and exclusive "small circle".
From Japan's point of view, Japan's diplomatic strategy and defense strategy have gradually been integrated into one, forming a clear national strategy. The ability of the United States to fight side by side is the so-called "war-capable country".
Threats to regional peace
Out of concern that Japan deviates from the path of peace, since May 22, the Japanese people have held many rallies and demonstrations in Tokyo to protest against the destruction of regional peace and stability by both Japan and the United States.
The protesters held high banners and chanted slogans such as "oppose war", "oppose quadrilateral mechanism" and "prevent constitutional revision".
"Currently, the Japanese House of Representatives has reached two-thirds of the power to amend the constitution, and if the power to amend the constitution after the Senate election also exceeds two-thirds, according to the Japanese constitution, the conditions for initiating a constitutional amendment bill are met. This is undoubtedly an important factor for peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. An extremely dangerous signal." Liu Jiangyong pointed out that from the fact that NATO's eastward expansion has led to military conflicts in Europe, it is impossible for military groups to achieve lasting peace and general security in the region.
At present, the Japanese government seeks to amend the constitution and expand the military, and follows the United States to engage in "small circle" and bloc politics in the Asia-Pacific region, and even advocates "Asia-Pacificization of NATO", which is likely to lead to misfortune and make the Asia-Pacific also face the risk of military conflict.
In addition, in recent years, Japanese politicians have frequently hyped up the "China threat theory", which has seriously undermined the foundation of friendship and mutual trust between the people of China and Japan, and damaged the healthy development of China-Japan relations.
Lv Yaodong pointed out that at present, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is still fermenting, and the international structure is already facing huge instability and uncertainty.
Following the United States, Japan is trying to play up the "China threat theory", making irresponsible remarks on sensitive issues such as the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and the North Korean nuclear issue, trying to ignite regional disputes and create conflict and confrontation, which will worsen the overall security environment in the Asia-Pacific region and undermine regional peace. good development.
A well-known Japanese historian and honorary professor at Metropolitan University of Liberal Arts, Kasahara Kujiuji recently pointed out that Japan is the only country to which an atomic bomb has been dropped, and it is disappointing to say that "nuclear weapons are shared" among Japanese leaders.
The US "nuclear umbrella" is deceptive.
The United States has nuclear weapons all around Japan, which cannot bring security to Japan.
Liu Jiangyong pointed out that the practice of relying on military alliances and military groups is a typical "Cold War mentality" and lags behind the development trend of the times.
What Japan needs to know, those who lose their ways are rarely helped.
A beggar-thy-neighbor approach will ultimately only shoot itself in the foot.
Li Jiabao
Li Jiabao