The Senkaku Islands and Japan
175Definition of militarism and analysis of Japan, PRC and ROK
Defining “militarism” is not as easy as defining “peace.” Here, I introduce
Gerhard Ritter’s useful definition of militarism as “exaggeration and
overestimation of the military in politics and society.”^21 Roger Chickering
also points out that nationalism, especially radical nationalism, tends to
play an important role in fostering militarism in a state.^22 Let’s examine
which country has more militaristic and nationalistic tendencies by
analyzing the share of the military budget in the overall state budget, the
possession of offensive weapons, and the strength of nationalism, in order
to see to what extent the military is made the first priority in politics and
society.
Japan has maintained high transparency of its defense program outline
and budget, which has been kept under 1% of GDP since 1967. The
defense budget of FY2012 took up 5.2% of overall national expenditure.
The official military spending of the PRC in 2012 took up 5.3% of total
national budget, but Dr. John Lee of the Center for International Security
Studies at the University of Sydney points out that the actual share is
likely to be around 10%.^23 The share of the ROK’s military spending in
2012 was 10.1% of national expenditure.
The PRC is estimated to possess about 250 nuclear warheads and
several delivery systems–approximately 55 ICBMs, 100 IRBMs/MRBMs,
at least 12 SLBMs, and more than 2,000 cruise missiles such as the CJ-10
or DH-10. The ROK also possesses Hyunmoo 3A (firing range 500km),
3B (1,000km) and 3C (1,500km) Cruise missiles. The armament of the
JSDF allows only “defense oriented weapons,” and Japan is the only
nation in the region that does not possess an aircraft carrier, cruise missiles
or ballistic missiles. This is further evidence for the fact that Japan is not a
“normal state” and does not have any intention to be a military power.
Furthermore, when the Abe administration won the Upper House
election in July 2013, the voter turnout was only 52.61%. This means
almost 55 million voters didn’t vote in the elections and the biggest reason
for non-participation was the absence of a political party they would
choose to support. When we check the reasons of those who voted for
the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), they are as follows: the largest 40%
of respondents said they used the method of exclusion, or that LDP is still
(^21) Ritter, Staatskunst und Kriegshandwerk. Das Problem des ‘Militarismus’ in
Deutschland.
(^22) Retallack, Imperial Germany 1871-1918; Chickering, “Chapter-9: Militarism
and radical nationalism“, 197.
(^23) Perrett, “China’s Inflation-Adjusted Defense Budget Up 7.5%”.