13/12/10 14:38:05.74
The complex situation in East Asia and the wider Pacific-Indian
Ocean Region is prompting governments to deploy a full range of
tools, from economic diplomacy to humanitarian relief operations
to declarations of exclusive air space, in their search for a balance
between what they consider to be their key national interests
and their shared wish to avert open conflict. Tokyo is one of these
actors who feel compelled to defend their national interests while
at the same time recognizing that war would imply harsh costs, to
itself and the region, at many levels, from the human to the economic
to the political. While many Asian leaders have expressed the wish
to see tensions ease and differences settled without recourse to
violence, all understand the high risk of conflict and look to higher
levels of military preparedness to enhance their position. Japan is
no exception. Japan is unique, however, in moving to reinforce military
capabilities despite a restrictive legal and constitutional framework.
The development of an amphibious capability by the SDF (Self-Defense
Forces), their latest drills featuring among others shore-based
anti-ship missile deployment, more frequent joint exercises with
the US and appeals to Washington for a firmer position in the Pacific,
a push for constitutional change involving the reinterpretation or
formal amendment to Article 9, and repeated public references to
the late Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister, illuminate
the military leg in Tokyo’s conflict prevention and management strategy.
This paper seems to examine these factors, on the understanding that
developments in the military sphere are only part of Tokyo’s foreign
policy towards East-Asia.
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