-Caveat Lector-
Could be one of the predictable side-effects of last year's "Asian Flu"
...
Japan Strengthening Its Forces
By GINNY PARKER
.c The Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) - Since the end of World War II, Japan has kept its military on a
short leash, guided by a constitution that renounces war and popular
sentiment against a powerful military.
But policymakers appear to be having a change of heart - and their decisions
could have a major impact on the region's often tenuous balance of power.
Japan has embarked on an ambitious strengthening of its own forces, seeking
everything from spy satellites to a mid-air refueler for its jet fighter
fleet.
Japan's defense policy - as well as other Asian security issues - will be a
topic during this weekend's economic summit of Pacific Rim nations in New
Zealand. Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi also will meet with President
Clinton and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to discuss potential threats
from North Korea.
The shift in Japan is largely the result of concern over communist North
Korea's development of long-range missiles, and possibly nuclear weapons.
North Korea shocked the Japanese a year ago when it test-fired a missile -
which it claimed carried a satellite into space - over Japan's main island.
Japan's sense of vulnerability was further heightened last March, when
suspected North Korean spy ships entered its waters, ignored orders to stop
and then raced home after coast guard patrol boats and navy vessels fired
warning shots for the first time since World War II.
North Korea is not Japan's only concern.
Intrusions into Japanese waters by Chinese navy ships and survey vessels are
becoming increasingly common, as is piracy in Japan's shipping lanes.
Tensions between Taiwan, Japan's southern neighbor, and China are chronic.
Russia, to Japan's north, occupies several islands Japan claims.
``It's not so much about making the defense forces bigger. It's about
changing strategy,'' said Isaku Okabe, a respected Japanese commentator on
military affairs.
Japan has a solid base upon which to build, with 267,000 servicemen, the most
sophisticated array of weaponry in Asia and an annual defense budget that
ranks third behind the United States and Russia.
Some 53,000 American servicemen and women also are stationed in Japan under a
mutual security pact. That presence includes one of the largest airbases in
Asia, the biggest contingent of Marines outside the United States and the
U.S. Navy's only fleet that has its home port in a foreign nation.
But the role of Japan's postwar military remains ambiguous.
Japan's pacifist constitution bars the use of force to settle international
disputes. And having been led to destruction in 1945 by a military
dictatorship, most Japanese are wary of anything that smacks of militarism.
That sentiment makes it unlikely Japan would seek its own nuclear weapons in
the foreseeable future, despite the presence of several nuclear powers in the
region.
Still, military planners say, Japan cannot afford to ignore the realities of
security.
``The need has arisen for a more effective defense system,'' Takamasa Moriya,
deputy vice minister of Japan's Defense Agency, said in a recent interview.
To that end, the government issued a defense report this summer that detailed
a plan to beef up Japan's arsenal, and defense officials are asking for the
first increase in military spending in three years.
To the surprise of many Japanese, the report also referred to Japan's right
to conduct a pre-emptive strike on another country if it felt threatened.
Officials stressed that, in practice, the Self-Defense Forces are incapable
of such an attack.
Proposed arms purchases could change that.
The government's near-term wish list includes a fleet of high-speed,
missile-equipped patrol boats, a bigger and faster combat support ship, and a
set of four Japan-made spy satellites.
It also has agreed to conduct research with the United States on a ballistic
missile defense system and says it intends eventually to acquire mid-air
refueling tanker planes, which would give Japanese warplanes a greater range
of operation.
Hardware is not all that's being bolstered.
Parliament passed a new set of U.S.-Japan security guidelines in May that
allow Japanese forces to provide greater assistance to American troops if war
breaks out in Asia and give the United States greater emergency access to
airbases and seaports in Japan.
The moves to change Japan's defense stance do not rest well with Japan's
neighbors, many of whom fear they are all part of a larger, more
disconcerting surge in Japanese nationalism.
Such concerns grew shrill in news media across the region in August when
Japan gave legal recognition to the Rising Sun flag and de facto national
anthem. Many Asians, and Japanese liberals, see the symbols as too heavily
tainted by Japan's militaristic past.
``I feel like we're going backward,'' said socialist lawmaker Kiyomi
Tsujimoto. ``The military is beginning to gain power.''
Supporters say the military buildup is not a reversion to Japanese
militarism, because it depends heavily on cooperation with the United States
and exchanges with other countries.
And they say Japan has every right to rethink its defense policy and, if need
be, rewrite the constitution to allow further strengthening of the military.
``Japan can't do what a country should be able to do,'' said Gen. Nakatani, a
legislator for the governing Liberal Democratic Party and former army
lieutenant. ``The constitution is an obstacle.''
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