My latest stories for Jane's Defence Weekly

Here are my latest stories for Jane's Defence Weekly. I wrote about Japan's new defense policy and Japan's 'sympathy budget' towards the US, or the nation's financial support for the US troops based in the nation.

Japan to adopt a proactive defence policy

Kosuke Takahashi
JDW Correspondent
Tokyo

 

Additional reporting by Jon Grevatt
Asia-Pacific Reporter
Bangkok

 

Key Points

• Japan has published a defence guideline that repositions its forces to counter emerging Chinese activities in the East China Sea
• Naval forces are being strengthened, but the ban on defence exports remains

 

Japan's defence policy during the next decade will be based on a doctrine of proactive, flexible and quick responses to threats facing the country in what is a major departure from its previous policy of "static deterrence".

 

The National Defence Programme Guidelines (NDPG) released on 17 December show a Japan concerned over China's emergence as a global and regional superpower and North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes. The policy guideline, which will define the country's basic security policy for the next 10 years, is the first formulated by the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) government since it replaced the pro-US Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last year.

 

The guideline includes a new concept called "Dynamic Defence Force" that supercedes the passive "Basic Defence Force Concept" and aims to "increase the credibility of Japan's deterrent capability by promoting timely and active operations". The publication of the guideline was accompanied by the approval of a mid-term defence programme by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

 

China's military modernisation and its lack of transparency are called a "concern for the regional and global community", while North Korea's nuclear and missile development programmes are "immediate and grave destabilising factors to the regional security".

 

Cold War-era equipment, organisations and forces structures will be reorganised. The number of Japan Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF) personnel in Hokkaido, which faces Russia, will be reduced - taking the total number of JGSDF personnel to 154,000 from the current 155,000, and coastal monitoring troops will be deployed to some of the Nansei Islands in the East China Sea to counter China's growing naval power.

 

The Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) submarine fleet will increase to 22 from the current 16 by extending the working life of existing submarines. The number of Aegis-equipped destroyers, which carry the US/Japanese-developed Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA anti-ballistic missile system, will increase to six from the current four. Specially, the Ministry of Defence said it will upgrade JDS Atago (DDG-177) and JS A shigara (DDG-178).

 

The Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) will increase the number of tactical fighter squadrons based at Naha Base in Okinawa to two from the current one. The JASDF will also deploy Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor missiles to six air defence missile groups from the current three to counter the threat of North Korea's and China's ballistic missiles.

 

The NDPG made no specific reference to the Three Principles policy banning defence exports after opposition parties indicated that they would block the government's budget bill were it to push ahead with lifting the longstanding policy.

 

Instead, the NDPG says "measures" should be considered in the "global environment" where joint programmes to develop military equipment have become the norm. The NDPG highlights the benefits of increased co-operation in military development programmes as necessary to respond to rising costs. It adds that Japan should discuss such "major changes" to strategies in order to enhance local industry.

 

An official from Nippon Keidanren - the Japan Business Federation - told Jane's that, despite the fall in defence expenditure and the retention of the Three Principles policy, the NDPG was good news for Japan's defence industry, which has shrunk considerably during the past five years as companies seek alternative streams of revenue.

 

Satoshi Mukuta, a director of international affairs at Nippon Keidanren and secretary general of the organisation's defence production committee, said: "The NDPG said nothing about the Three Principles, but, on the other hand, the government stated that they will try to make it possible for the Japanese defence industry to join international development and production programmes."

 

He added: "The defence budget [outlined in the policy] will only be very slightly less than in recent years, so we can say that overall the policy is progress. The government is trying to ease Japanese industry's participation into international programmes to improve our industrial and technological base. This means that the new NDPG is an important step forward."

 

Copyright © IHS Global Limited, 2010

 

Japan and US agree to maintain current cost of 'sympathy budget'

Kosuke Takahashi
JDW Correspondent
Tokyo

Japan and the US have agreed that Japan's financial support for the US troops based in the country will stay at current levels for the next five years from Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) starting in April.

Under the five-year agreement between the two countries, Japan will earmark the existing annual amount of JPY188.1 billion (USD2.3 billion) for five years from FY11, the Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 14 December.

Measures were made to reduce the burden on Japan. The number of local support staff, whose work on US bases includes entertainment facilities such as bars and golf courses and whose personnel costs are covered by the Japanese government, will be cut by 430 to 22,625. The share of Japan's contribution towards US utility bills is also to be reduced from 76 per cent to 72 per cent.

The US had requested more money, claiming that its presence had proven to be a stabilising influence in the region and that the bilateral alliance was increasingly significant in view of recent strategic and military moves by North Korea and China.

With government debt approaching nearly 200 per cent of GDP, Japan has sought to reduce the cost of supporting US troops since the "sympathy budget", as it is known in Tokyo, peaked in FY99 at JPY275.6 billion.

US Forces Japan comprises 36,000 personnel from all three branches of the military, 43,000 dependents and 5,000 Department of Defense civilian employees across 85 facilities.

Copyright © IHS Global Limited, 2010