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(CNN) – Japan’s military conducted 25 missions in 2020 in defense of American ships or aircraft, a sign of the growing integration of two of Asia’s most powerful armed forces.
The number of what Japan calls “asset protection” missions increased from 14 in 2019 amid a “severe security environment,” according to an announcement by the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
The Japanese military said the 25 missions involved the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) protecting U.S. Navy ships. On four occasions while those ships were gathering information on ballistic missiles or other warning activities. or surveillance. In 21 cases, the missions included the protection of US aircraft that were in joint training with their Japanese counterparts.
The Japanese authorities did not say when or where the missions were carried out, only that they “contributed to the defense of Japan.” US and Japanese forces participated in a wide range of exercises last year in and around Japan and as far away as the Indian Ocean.
Defense analysts said that if a hostile power engaged the United States military in any of the asset protection missions, Japanese forces could strike back. “If American assets were suddenly attacked, the SDF would be expected to strike back to prevent subsequent attacks on American ships or aircraft,” said Corey Wallace, an assistant professor at the University of Kanagawa in Japan.
However, Japanese security expert Narushige Michishita, vice president of the National Graduate Institute for Political Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, said the forces were unlikely to face any real danger of hostilities.
“Certainly, the forces of some countries perform dangerous maneuvers during exercises between the United States and Japan, so the Americans and the Japanese might have experienced some puzzling events at times,” he said.
But both experts said the SDF announcement indicates the growing importance of the security relationship between the United States and Japan at a time of heightened threats in the region, and sends an important message to potential adversaries.
“The point is that two forces now operate very closely together on a regular basis, and that they will be able to do the same in times of war or under a stressed environment. The ability to do so will undoubtedly improve the deterrence against possible aggressive actions against Japan, Korea. South, and even Taiwan, “Michishita said.
“It’s a more dangerous (contingency) than was allowed six years ago,” Wallace said.
Abe expanded Japan’s military options
In 2014, then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed for a “reinterpretation” of the country’s pacifist post-World War II constitution, which strictly restricted the use of the Self-Defense Forces in Tokyo to reflect the 21st century security environment.
A year later, Japan’s Peace and Security Legislation, which codifies Abe’s plan to allow for greater outreach by the SDF, became law. Under article 95-2 of the law, Japanese forces can fire their weapons to protect American military ships and aircraft.
Any operation involving “asset protection” must be requested by the US military, approved by the Japanese defense minister, support the defense of Japan, and cannot take place in an area of probable combat.
The law was first used in 2017, when the Japanese helicopter destroyer JS Izumo was escorting a US Navy supply ship, wrote Michael Bosack, former deputy chief of government relations for the US Forces. In Japan, in the academic magazine Tokyo Review that year.
The law, and the Japanese missions under it, disprove a 2019 claim by then-US President Donald Trump that Japan did not need to come to the aid of the United States if the United States was attacked.
“If Japan is attacked, we will fight World War III … with our lives and with our treasure,” Trump said, adding: “If they attack us, Japan doesn’t have to help us at all,” Trump said. .
Cooperation between the Japanese and US military has increased in recent years as threats against Japan have emerged, including North Korea’s ballistic missile program and ongoing tensions with China over the Senkaku / Diaoyu islands.
The uninhabited rock chain closer to Taiwan than Tokyo is controlled by Japan but claimed by China.
Successive US governments, including the Biden administration, have reaffirmed that Washington considers the islands to be Japanese and would be obligated to defend them under the US-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty.
Article 95-2 covers incidents that could break out before any attack on Japan and that would possibly enforce the mutual defense treaty.
Meanwhile, Japan’s military, especially its Maritime Self-Defense Force, has increased its presence away from its national shores. Japanese troops have conducted joint or multilateral exercises with a variety of partners, including India, Australia, and the Philippines, as well as the US.
This story was first published on CNN.com “Japan Increases Protection of US Military Amid ‘Severe Security Environment'”
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