Japan Unleashed!

I have always felt that it is now time to nudge Japan into a more central and independent role in the Pacific and to take on the Chinese communist threat in mainlad asia head-on. The mainland Asians still feel great animus towards the Japanese resulting from the World War II occupation of their lands from Manchuria in China to VietNam and Burma as well as the Pacific Islands which cover thousands of square miles in this region. After defeating Japan in 1945, the Japanese people have been a loyal and stalwart ally when they could have been neither.

Consider Germany, today their government is completely hostile to US strategic initiatives and their people always in revolt against American culture and economic positions. However, the Japanese have embraced the American culture wholeheartedly and have become completely immersed in America's economic system both domestic and foreign. There is a good reason for this, the Americans were the sole occupying force in their country after their surrender and we allowed their Emporer to rule the Chyrsanthium Throne while General McCarther was America's Viceroy during that time. Germany, of course, had no such "friendly" suzerain for Russia was enslaving her eastern domain as punishment for Germany's invasion of Mother Russia. This has left the German people resentful and mischevious all these years.

Japan has the second largest navy in the Pacific after the United States. With her combined strategic economic wealth coupled with a highly advanced technical base there is no reason why the Japanese should be held on their constitutional leash while America now tackles the War on Terror. Here are some excerpts from an article written by the American Interprise Insititute for Public Policy Research regarding the need for Japan to take on more responsibility:

The incremental changes in U.S.-Japanese relations during the late 1990s set the stage for Prime Minister Koizumi’s decision to move Japan more definitively into a tighter alliance with the United States. Soon after taking office in April 2001, Koizumi concluded that the best route for Japan to assume its rightful role on the international stage was through closer U.S.-Japanese security cooperation. Two events created the opportunity for him to pursue such an ambitious agenda.

First, Koizumi’s response to the 9/11 terror attacks was decisive: he announced his support for America’s exercise of its inherent right to self-defense and secured Diet approval for new laws enabling the dispatch of logistics ships to the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, escorted by Japanese AEGIS-equipped destroyers. During Operation Enduring Freedom, MSDF ships transported fuel supplies to a multinational coalition of navies and the Air Self-Defense Force flew a number of transport missions to Diego Garcia and Guam. Koizumi demonstrated that Japan was ready to conduct military operations out of area.

Then, in December 2003, Koizumi took the even more controversial step of supporting the U.S.-led war on Iraq when he dispatched ground troops to Iraq for noncombatant, reconstruction roles. Though Koizumi approached the issue cautiously, waiting for the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1511--which authorized a multinational peacekeeping mission in Iraq--Japan proved itself willing to support U.S.-led missions even when an international consensus did not exist.

As a result of Japans confidence in American resolve, she has proved herself as an erstwhile ally. The article continues:

Plugging into Missile Defense. The decision that may have the greatest long-term impact on Japan’s China strategy is Tokyo’s plan to acquire a missile defense system that is interoperable with Washington’s. The plan calls for upper and lower BMD systems--the Navy Theater Wide (NTW) system that employs the AEGIS combat system (Japan already has four AEGIS destroyers and is planning to acquire two more) and an upgraded SM-3 as its interceptor missile. Japan will also acquire PAC 3 anti-ballistic missile system for lower-tier protection. The layered approach mirrors U.S. missile defense plans and policies.[3]

Japan’s decision to acquire the “made in America” ballistic missile defense has even greater strategic than operational significance. To make the BMD system effective, Japan and the United States will have to take a number of measures to harmonize plans and procedures at both the strategic and operational levels. Defense-industrial cooperation on laser technologies for Boost Phase Intercept systems will require Japan to relax its prohibition on exporting arms. The move from a categorical ban to a case-by-case review process will open the door to further U.S.-Japanese defense industry cooperation.

The attack on America on 9/11 and her response to it has completely transformed the geopolitical order in the world since the Second World War. We are witnessing the long overdue transformation of the old order as the Cold War gives way to the War on Terror.