[ad_1]
TOKYO – Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paved the way for acquiring first strike capability at enemy missile bases on Friday (September 11), but said it will be up to the new government to move forward.
“Is it really possible that intercepting attacks alone is enough to protect people’s peace, lives and livelihoods?” she said in a statement after attending a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC).
“It is necessary to increase deterrence and further reduce the probability of ballistic missile attacks in Japan,” he said, adding that his successor will decide on a new defense plan by the end of the year.
Analysts say that the very idea that Japan can acquire a striking capability, even if it is expressed on behalf of defense, is controversial and would be one of the biggest paradigm shifts in Japanese defense policy since the war.
But Abe emphasized that Japan will act within the framework of its war-renouncing constitution and abide by international law, emphasizing: “There is no change in our defense-oriented stance.”
The statement is one of Abe’s swan-song acts in office before resigning, and his successor will be identified in the Liberal Democratic Party elections on Monday and inaugurated on Wednesday.
While it has no binding effect on the new government, his likely successor, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, was also at the meeting and will see no reason not to follow the direction set by Abe.
Analysts said the timing was a deliberate attempt by Abe to imprint his legacy on defense matters after his controversial attempt to revise the Constitution failed.
A first strike capability means that Japan will be able to launch an attack on enemy bases even before missiles are fired, unlike now, when it can stop targets after they are launched.
It will also allow, for the first time, the Japanese military to plan attacks on ground targets, rather than stopping attacks in the air and at sea.
The plan will involve the purchase of long-range weapons. Retired Japanese admiral Katsutoshi Kawano told Reuters that US-made Tomahawk BGM-109 cruise missiles that can hit targets 2,500 kilometers away were an option.
Abe’s statement specifically pointed the finger at North Korea, with “its arsenal of several hundred ballistic missiles putting Japan within range” an imminent threat.
In addition, he warned that North Korea has managed to miniaturize nuclear warheads that can be mounted on these ballistic missiles.
But Kobe University security expert Tosh Minohara believes that singling out North Korea is nothing more than making the strategy more politically correct. He said: “We should not underestimate North Korea, but China is the real reason.”
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Taro Kono said China poses a threat to Japan’s security.
“We are prepared to defend every inch of our land, and I believe that the alliance (with the United States) is willing to fight for the Senkaku Islands,” he said, referring to the disputed set of islets in the East China Sea that Beijing refers to. . to like the Diaoyus.
On the same day, Japan signed a military supply exchange pact with India, which has a border dispute with China that turned deadly in June.
The move is significant as it consolidates Quad’s security partnership between the US, Japan, Australia and India, all of which have similar bilateral supply-sharing agreements with each other.
Abe, in a telephone summit with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, said that their nations share a commitment to achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Friday’s NSC meeting came as Japan had scrapped in June a plan to roll out the land-based Aegis Ashore system in a surprise U-turn, after a costly technical redesign was deemed necessary for security reasons.
Japan is also considering expanding its fleet of Aegis warships and building offshore facilities with radars and launchers.
[ad_2]
