The Tokyo Declaration in December 2022 to adopt a new defense strategy marks the beginning of a new era in the military alliance between the United States and Japan, according to an article published by the American magazine "The National Interest".
US President Joe Biden stated, during a joint briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on January 13, that the two parties are working to modernize their military alliance, which he described as constructive, based on the historical increase in defense spending adopted by Japan and the new Japanese national security strategy. .
The author of the article, Paul Smith, professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College, points out the great importance that Japan represents to the US presence and interests in Northeast Asia, as Japan hosts about 54,000 US forces, who have access to about 5 to 8 bases. And US military installations in the country and the region.
Japan also provides about $1.7 billion annually as a contribution to financing the US forces on its soil.
The US-Japanese alliance dates back to the beginning of the 1950s, with the Communists taking control of mainland China and the beginning of the Korean War, as the United States saw Japan as a decisive party to maintain the balance of power and confront the growing communist tide in the region.
According to estimates published by the CIA in 1951, there were 3 reasons that prompted the United States to take Japan as its ally in the Pacific Ocean.
Japan's industrial potential, and its trained workforce;
And its strategic geographical location.
Smith explains in his article that among the main goals that America sought to achieve is urging Japan to build its military capabilities in a way that enables it to contribute more to defending itself, as well as to the security of the region.
However, this goal is accompanied by many challenges, the most prominent of which was expressed by the late diplomat Edwin Reshawer, who served as the US ambassador to Japan in the sixties of the last century, when he said that the Japanese people believe in a myth that says that peace in Japan is a fruit of the country’s constitution that enshrines peace, and not thanks to the position American defense in the Far East.
3 scenarios
Smith points out that the Policy Planning Council of the US State Department issued a report in 1968 entitled "Japan's Security Role in Asia", which put forward 3 possible scenarios for the prospects for Japanese military development, ranging from the minimum and maximum military capabilities that the country might achieve.
The first scenario expects that Japan's military capabilities will remain at a minimum in the field of defense and the country will continue to rely solely on the United States to maintain peace in the region, and the second is that Tokyo will be able to develop its defense capabilities in a way that enables it to play a role in peacekeeping, and deliberately limit of international participation in peacekeeping.
As for the third scenario, it is that Japan becomes a major regional military power, playing a significant regional role, and thus can relieve the United States of some of the regional security burdens that were burdening it.
However, the study warned that the latter scenario is a double-edged sword, as Japan's large military force may lead to national pressures that encourage Tokyo to adopt an independent strategy from the United States.
Smith said that the era in which the Japanese-American alliance was based on a kind of dependency - so that the latter provides military force while the former provides logistical and financial support - has passed, and that Japan is now an equal partner with the United States.
The writer concluded that this new chapter in the relationship between the two countries will inevitably result in many pains, but careful management and planning may enable the two countries to reach a formula for the alliance that is more flexible and capable of facing contemporary security threats in the future.