Chapter Nine
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It is important to keep in mind that exercising the right to collective
defense and developing self-defense capabilities has been based on a
scenario supplied by the United States. In 2000, Richard Lee Armitage, a
former Deputy Secretary of State in the Bush administration known for
being well-versed in Japan, and professor Joseph Samuel Nye, Jr.
published a report–the so called “Armitage Report^27 ”–which offers
guidelines for America’s policy toward Japan and advises Japan on several
measures to reinforce the Japan-U.S. alliance. The second report^28 was
published in 2007 and the third one^29 was unveiled in 2012. Through these
reports, they indicate which policies or measures the USA wants Japan to
take, and these include exercising the right to collective defense and
developing self defense capabilities. Frankly speaking, these reports are
a kind of to-do list that Japan has been obediently following.
Moreover, it is expected that the United States will ask its allies to bear
more burden-sharing than before due to its political divisions at home, the
sequestration of its military budget, and crises in the Mideast. For
example, Howard Mckeon, Chairman of the House Armed Services
Committee in the U.S. Congress, expressed his support of a more active
role for Japan’s military in response to assertive behavior by the PRC and
the capacity building of its partners.^30
Conclusion
Since official Chinese vessels have started intruding into the Japanese
territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands, it is obvious that Japanese
society has recognized that Japan may be facing a real military threat from
China and that the Japanese government should take some precautionary
measures. In this sense, we are witnessing Japan’s shift from idealism or
pacifism to pragmatism. The heavy loss of the Social Democratic Party,
which insisted on adopting unarmed neutrality during the Cold War and a
historical defeat of the Democratic Party of Japan in the recent elections
show the shift clearly.
In concert with economic growth, it is inevitable that the military
activities of the PRC will become more active in the future. Still, it is not
reasonable for Japan to dramatically increase its military capabilities to
keep military balance with the PRC by itself. Reinforcement of the Japan-
(^27) INSS, The United States and Japan: Advancing Toward a Mature Partnership.
(^28) CSIS, The U.S.-Japan Alliance: Getting Asia Right through 2020.
(^29) CSIS, The U.S.-Japan Alliance: Anchoring Stability in Asia.
(^30) The Washington Post, “US lawmakers support pivot strategy, look to Asian
allies to build military capabilities“.