Contribution to the 8^th International Communist Seminar, Brussels, 2-4 May 1999

www.icsbrussels.org , ics[at]icsbrussels.org

The Military Strategy of Japanese Imperialism

Japan Communist League

1. Unlike US imperialism, Japanese imperialism has seldom made open and discussed in public its military strategy, and even on such rare occasions its projection is so vague as to conceal its real intention. This is because the Japanese bourgeoisie has been mindful of the eyes and criticism of Asian nations who were invaded by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War and are now a vital market for Japanese capital. In addition, it has been constrained by the current constitution of Japan that defines renunciation of war, maintenance of an army, enforcement of armed force, and the right of belligerency. Thus, the Japanese bourgeoisie and its government have been challenged by the anti-war movement led by the working class during the post-war era, and failed to publicly project their own military strategy and to politically integrate middle classes under their strategy.

Throughout the post-war era, the Japanese bourgeoisie has committed itself to playing a role under the US nuclear umbrella and a military strategy based on the Japan-US Security Treaty, which has constituted the framework of the Japanese foreign policy and military position. It has made studies of alternative political/military strategies of its own, but has had no chance to publicise these due to the reality of the political circumstances and its military capability.

2. However, the Japanese bourgeoisie has recently started to disclose its military ambition in the new stage of inter-imperialist competition called ‘globalization’. We can grasp its outline through logical conjecture based on the following elements: tendencies of the development of global capitalism and the position of Japanese imperialism in the development, development of class confrontation/integration in Japan, and hence, the inevitable political/military strategy of the Japanese financial monopoly bourgeoisie as the ruling class. Communists must have a correct grasp of their strategic ambition and prepare to build the rank and file of the proletariat who will wage a militant struggle against that ambition.

3. The following presentation is to expose to comrades abroad what the political/military strategy of the Japanese financial monopoly bourgeoisie is, and how the communist vanguard party and revolutionary proletariat should fight against it.

A. Basic Trends of Global Capitalism and the Position of Japanese Imperialism

4. The economic basis of ‘globalization’ is multinational financial monopoly capital whose productive power has surpassed the framework of a conventional national economy. Imperialists who try to lower national borders and regulations on capital movement politically represent their demand. In the process, capitalism has extended the socialisation of production across borders, preparing the material basis of a socialist society. Thus, imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalism, is the precursor to socialist revolution.

5. On the other hand, the bourgeoisie needs the national state as a tool of class domination. They never discard this tool to oppress advancing class struggles and revolutionary struggles under globalization. On the very contrary, they are consolidating this tool.

6. The demand by imperialists for a lowering of the fences around national economies coupled with the necessity for the national state to maintain its class domination has brought about the move to build regional economic spheres. In Europe, the European Union has forged a common currency, the Euro, while in North America NAFTA has been formed. In Asia, this move has emerged as the formation of APEC and calls for the establishment of a regional common currency.

7. Alongside these developments, the law of uneven development of capitalism makes itself felt. The inter-imperialist competition is intensifying between US imperialism (the dominant power even after its initial fall in the 1970s), the German-led EU imperialism and Japanese imperialism. The struggle for global hegemony among the three imperialist powers is waged through initiatives to form regional economic spheres and regional security systems to defend them.

8. Under such circumstances, the Japanese financial monopoly bourgeoisie is bound to consolidate economic, political, military control over the Asia-Pacific region where its maintains its concentrated economic interest. Its long-term strategy is economically to establish a yen-dominant economic zone in Asia to counter the dollar and the Euro. Militarily, they define China, North Korea, and anti-imperialist struggles in Asian countries as ‘threats to Japanese interests’. Hence, they try to counter these ‘threats’ in combination with US imperialism on one hand, and try to take initiative in forging a new frame of multilateral regional security system like the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on the other.

B. The Military Strategy of Japanese Imperialism in the Post-War Era

9. Affected by the particular conditions of a defeated imperialist power and by class struggle in the post-war era, Japanese imperialism has maintained decisive weak points, that is, inferiority of military strategy as well as military capabilities.

The current Japanese constitution, which was enacted on the initiative of US imperialism for the purpose of dissolving Japanese militarism after the War, defines renunciation of war, maintenance of armed forces and the right to belligerency in its Article 9. And a far-reaching and deeper anti-war consciousness has been instilled among workers and people who experienced the defeat of the war and the misery of atomic bombs.

On the other hand, faced with the victorious Chinese Revolution and the Korean War, US imperialism changed foreign policy on Japan. They built up Japan as a breakwater against the Asian communist movement and concluded the Japan-US Security Treaty in 1951, maintaining thereafter, the Japan-US alliance that has been the basic military strategy of Japanese imperialism. In line with this, they scrapped the renunciation of maintenance of armed forces by the Constitution by ‘interpretation’ and established the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in the then name of Police Reserve Force. Ever since the SDF have been consistently consolidated, though they have been always challenged by the criticism that the SDF are unconstitutional.

During the high economic growth period in the cold war era, the framework of military strategy of Japanese imperialism was to ‘defend its national territory’ under the Japan-US security alliance led by the US strategy against the ‘main potential enemy’, the Soviet Union. In other words however, it means that Japanese imperialism did not hold a global strategy of its own. Under the US nuclear umbrella, they pursued ‘pacifism in one country’ and concentrated themselves on propelling economic development depending on foreign trade: import of natural resources and export of processed products, which was later condemned by the US as ‘a free ride with respect to security’.

In summary, the Japanese bourgeoisie’s ambition to establish a global strategy of their own was checked by the overwhelming advantageous status of the US on the one hand, and the constitution as well as the rise of the anti-war peace movement by workers and people on the other.

10. After the transitional period in the 1970s, the Japanese imperialist strategy in terms of foreign policies and security drastically changed in the following decade. In the early 80s, then Prime Minister Nakasone stated that the Japanese Archipelago should function as an unsinkable aircraft carrier. The central role of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces under the Japan-US Security Treaty shifted from ‘defence-only’ to ‘active defence’ under the ‘comprehensive security strategy’. The strategic tasks of the Japanese SDF were organised around the containment of the Soviet Union through the blockade of three straits around Japan and the defence of the sea-lane. And the 1% (of the GNP) capping of the defence budget was abrogated. The backdrop of such drastic change in the Japanese defence policy was the change in the power balance between US and Japanese imperialism. Anti-war and peace movements experienced a serious setback and conservatism gained momentum even among the ordinary workers and people. Chauvinistic nationalism with the reactionary ideology of the Emperor system was actively propagated.

Since the 1985 Plaza Accord, Japanese firms have relocated their production bases abroad, in particular to other Asian countries. The Cold War ended in 1989, and after the 1991 Gulf War, the Japanese SDF dispatched its troops abroad for the first time since the end of World War II. In 1994, the Round Table Conference on Defense, an advisory panel for the Prime Minister, issued a report on a new Japanese defence policy after the Cold War including a review of the National Defense Program that started in 1976. The former under-secretary of the Defense Agency and the former Chairman of the Joint Staff Council of the SDF initiated the panel.

The report says that the US has already lost its overwhelming superiority in terms of comprehensive national might. It recommends that Japan in the post cold-war era should play the role of an active builder of order, abandoning the passive defence-only policy. As an active builder of order, the report emphasises the following three points: ‘First, the promotion of multilateral security arrangements at both in the global and regional levels; second, the consolidation and strengthening of the security alliance with the US; third, the maintenance of a reliable and effective defence power based on the intensified intelligence and rapid-response capabilities’.

Multilateral security arrangements mentioned in the report mean various security bodies, talks and policies that are formulated through the United Nations and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). It should be noted that in this 1994 report the multilateral security arrangements are more stressed than the alliance with the US, which is given the secondary position to make the multilateral security more effective. In this sense, this report can be regarded as a manifestation of the ambitious scheme of the Japanese financial monopoly capital to strengthen independence of the SDF from the US Forces.

11. The US immediately reacted to the formulation of the Japan’s new security policy. In the 1990s, US high-ranking officials in the Pentagon made a lot of warning remarks about the Japan’s military build-up. In February 1990, the then US Defense Secretary stated that Japan’s defence budget ranked almost third in the world was already too much and a quantitative build-up of the Japanese military was not appropriate. It is safe to say that one of the strategic interests for the US in the security treaty with Japan is the containment of the Japanese expansion.

The US pressurised Japan to accept the so-called re-definition of the AMPO (Japan-US Security Treaty) and the Japanese government revised the National Defense Program basically to meet the demand of the US in November 1995. Taking public opinion in Japan and Asian nations and the current military capabilities of the SDF into consideration, the Japanese ruling class made a decision to accept the US demands to pursue its own imperialist goals.

The new National Defense Program reaffirmed the significance of the security treaty with the US by saying that it was indispensable for maintaining the security of Japan. It also mentions the presence of regional military powers including nuclear capabilities around Japan and continuing tension on the Korean Peninsula. It suggests and openly mentions that China and North Korea are the so-called destabilising factors in the Asia-Pacific region.

The new Program defines the three major tasks of the SDF as follows: the defence of Japan, the response to natural and other disasters, the contribution to creating a secure environment. The first is the traditional role of the SDF against direct and indirect aggression of Japanese territory. The third means the participation in UN Peace Keeping Operations (PKOs), other international relief operations, security dialogues and armaments control.

The second task, the response to natural and other disasters, should be most exposed. The situations expected to be dealt with are further categorised into two. One is ‘emergencies caused by natural disasters or terrorism which requires the protection of lives and property.’ The other is ‘situations in areas surrounding Japan that affect the peace and security of Japan.’

The scope of operations that are defined in the second and third tasks is not limited to Japanese territory. The role of Japanese SDF is drastically expanded into the activities overseas. Furthermore the definition of ‘emergencies caused by natural disasters or terrorism’ allows the SDF to go abroad not only wartime but also peacetime as part of the LIC strategy such as rescue operations of Japanese nationals overseas or refugees, anti-‘terrorist’ operations and defence of important facilities. It actually defines the counter-insurgency role of the SDF against the revolutionary movements in Asian countries.

The post-cold-war security strategy of Japan has shifted from the ‘defence of Japan against a Russian aggression’ to an active intervention in regional flashpoints including the Korean Peninsula and to deal with ‘situations in areas surrounding Japan that affect Japan’s peace and security’ suggesting a threat from China.

In April 1996, the US and Japan issued a Joint Declaration on Security which assured a smooth operation to station US troops in Japan and a review of the 1978 Defense Co-operation Guidelines between the US and Japan. The review of the guidelines was made to allow the SDF to provide support for US forces even outside Japanese territory and resulted in the signing of new Guidelines in September 1997.

12. To sum up regarding the new guidelines, the intention of the Japanese financial monopoly capitalists is to build up the capabilities of the SDF and to manipulate public opinion on overseas deployment of the SDF basically inside the framework of the security with the US as well as other multilateral security arrangements like UN PKOs. The strategic goal of Japanese imperialism is on the one hand the establishment of a militarist regime including the amendment of the constitution and on the other hand, the establishment of its regional hegemony through multilateral security bodies like the ASEAN Regional Forum.

C. The New Guidelines and the Consolidation of the SDF

13. The US military strategy is designedto maintain a structure capable of waging simultaneous wars in both the Gulf and the Korean Peninsula as well as to wage military intervention in other areas of the Asia-Pacific region in order to strengthen its political and military influence. The aim of the new Guidelines for the Japan-US Defense Co-operation is that under this US strategy the SDF involve themselves in joint military operations with US forces abroad in order to protect Japan’s ‘national interests’ in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Japan-US joint military operations in ‘situations in areas surrounding Japan that will have an important influence on Japanese peace and security’ are described in the new Guidelines as follows:

1) Co-operation in Activities Initiated by Either Government:

- Relief activities and measures to deal with refugees in the ‘area’

- Search and rescue of soldiers on aircraft and/or vessels

- Evacuation operations of its own nationals

- Activities for effective economic sanctions, including inspecting ships based on UN Security Council resolutions

2) Japan’s Support for US Forces Activities:-

- Use of facilities: civilian airports and ports as well as SDF facilities

- Back up support: by using Japanese authorities and assets of central and local government agencies, as well as private sector assets, such as provision of materials and POL to US aircraft and vessels, transportation, repair and maintenance, medical services, security and communications; on the high seas and international airspace around Japan as well as in Japanese territory.

3) Japan-US Operational Co-operation:-

- Surveillance: intelligence sharing

- Minesweeping: in Japanese territory and on the high seas around Japan

- Sea and air space management

In order to implement these ‘bilateral’ military operations, the new Guidelines demand both governments set up co-ordinating bodies: ‘comprehensive mechanism’ and ‘bilateral co-ordination mechanism’.

1) Comprehensive mechanism:-

This ‘comprehensive mechanism’ will be composed of the following committees/organs:

- Security Consultative Committee (SCC)

comprising cabinet members in charge of foreign affairs and defence (2+2)

presenting directions, validating the progress of work, and issuing directives

- Subcommittee for Defense Co-operation (SDC)

comprising high ranked officials of both governments and armies

assisting the SCC

- Bilateral Planning Committee (BPC)

comprising high ranked officials of the SDF and the US Forces

Bilateral Defense Planning (in case of armed attack against Japan)

Mutual Co-operation Planning (for ‘situations in areas surrounding Japan)

Establishment of Common Standards for Preparations (so-called LERTCON (alert condition): DEFCON (defence readiness condition) and EMERGENCY)

- Establishment of Common Procedures (so-called RoE (rules of engagement), meaning rules of military action)

- Co-ordinating Conference of related Ministries of Japanese government

preparation of Japanese Laws corresponding to the Guidelines

2) Bilateral co-ordination mechanism:

This ‘bilateral co-ordination mechanism’ will include a ‘bilateral co-ordination centre with the necessary hardware and software’, which means the establishment under ‘normal circumstances’ of a unified headquarters for joint military actions by the SDF and the US Forces.

14. Even before the signing of the new Guidelines, the SDF had prepared for their military activities abroad.

It had been a taboo forced by the anti-war struggle and the Constitution after the Second World War for the Japanese ruling class to deploy SDF troops outside Japan. However, they were able to violate the taboo for the first time by dispatching minesweepers to the Gulf in 1991. The following year the Law concerning Co-operation with UN Peace Keeping Operations was enacted and the International Urgent Relief Team Law was revised to add the SDF to the team. SDF troops were sent abroad time after time to Cambodia in 1992, Mozambique in 1993, Rwanda in 1994 and Golan Heights in 1996. In July of 1997, 3 C-130H transoirt aircraft were dispatched to Thailand allegedly to assist in the rescue of Japanese citizens in Cambodia. This operation was ‘decided and ordered as a clear will of state for rescue of Japanese abroad for the first time since the Second World War’. At the height of the Indonesian people’s struggle against the dictatorship of Suharto, in May of 1998, 6 C-130H and 2 inspection vessels with helicopters of the Maritime Safety Agency were sent to Singapore under the same excuse.

The SDF have also repeatedly conducted field-training exercises using RoE. The RoE of the SDF were introduced for the first time on the occasion of Japan-US joint unified exercise of three services named Keen Edge 94 in January 1994. In July 1998, the Maritime SDF exercised the RoE for ‘situations in areas surrounding Japan’ such as a blockade operation at sea, inspection of vessels, and rescue of civilians, under the command of US Navy in the RimPac Exercise 98 by 6 nations around Hawaii in July 1998.

Organisationally, the SDF has been consolidated for the preparation of joint action with the US Forces: unification of three services, strengthening the power of the chairman of Joint Staff Council in 1998, establishment of the Central Intelligence Command in 1997, and new formation of the Logistic Control Command in 1998.

D. The Struggle of the Japanese Proletariat - The Combination of the Struggle to Overthrow Japanese Imperialism and for Proletarian Internationalism

15. Discussion on legislative bills related to the new Guidelines has started at the Japanese Diet in order to embody the agreement in Japan.

It is another significant aspect of the new Guidelines for the Japanese ruling class to change the domestic political framework of post-World War II era and build up a military structure. The Constitution is the symbol of the political framework of the post-war era. The Japanese government has explained the ‘legality’ of the SDF under the Constitution by using a notion of ‘right of individual self-defence’; there is no question that Japan has a right of collective self-defence as a sovereign nation, however it is only the right of individual self-defence that is allowed to exercise by the Constitution; exercise of the right of collective self-defence is unconstitutional. This view of the Japanese government is demagogic because they also had agreed with the former Guidelines that defined joint actions of Japanese and US Forces against military aggression against Japan, which must be an exercise of the right of collective self-defence. However, the new Guidelines that define joint military actions outside Japan in the ‘situations in areas surrounding Japan’ cannot be explained by the right of individual self-defence. The Japanese ruling class has no other choice but go into insistence of exercise of the right of collective self-defence and finally amendment of the Constitution and they have already fostered support for the amendment using major commercial mass media.

The bills related to the new Guidelines would allow Japanese government to mobilise ‘authorities and assets of central and local government agencies, as well as private sector assets’. This is a step toward a new political framework for the build-up of a military structure including the introduction of conscription into the armed forces.

Japanese and US governments have stressed ‘suspicion of nuclear facilities’ and criticism of the development of missile by North Korea in order to manipulate public opinion. On the occasion of North Korea’s launching a satellite in August 1998, it was the Japanese government alone who were persistent in insisting that it was a military missile, and they propagated the necessity of early enactment of the bills related to the new Guidelines and Japan-US joint research of the Theater Missile Defense Plan. In January of this year, US Secretary of Defense Cohen visited Japan and agreed with Japanese government that Japan and the US together with South Korea would jointly take warning measures against possible missile experiments by North Korea. The United States have also pressurised North Korea to accept unconditional inspection of ‘nuclear facilities’ in spite of the denial of their existence by the North Korean government.

However, the Japanese government doesn’t think that there is any reality of military aggression by North Korea. Asahi Shinbun newspaper, one of the 4 major commercial papers in Japan, reported a remark by a Japanese high official who engaged in the negotiation of the new Guidelines, ‘We don’t think there would be a military advance to the South by North Korea. The main reason to refer to the Emergency of Korea is not because there is possibility but because the responses to the situation could be comprehensive and the basis of Japan-US Defense Co-operation that would include all the necessary aspects.’

There is, however, still a high possibility that the US could attack North Korea with the excuse of ‘rejection of inspections’, considering what they did to Iraq. The Japanese government is rushing to pass the bills related to the new Guidelines to play the role of a partner for the invasion against North Korea.

16. We regard the following tasks as the most important for Japanese advanced proletarians:

First, with all their might, to organise the widest uprising of workers and people against the legislative bills related to the new Guidelines and stop the military invasion of North Korea by US and Japanese imperialism.

Even though there has been serious setback to the anti-war and peace movements in Japan, there have been spontaneous reactions and moves by ordinary Japanese workers and people against the on-going preparation for deployment of SDF troops to aid US aggression against North Korea, mobilisation of civilian assets as well as local governments, and the amendment of the Constitution. It is necessary to develop the combination of the two spontaneous moves: these political issues on one hand and economic demands and struggles of workers under the current long-term recession on the other.

Second, to lead this broad uprisrising of workers and people in the struggle based on anti-Japanese imperialism and proletarian internationalism.

The Japanese Communist Party has kept on saying that they are against Japanese dependence on the US and Japanese forced involvement in warfare led by the US. But this political stand is decisively erroneous. As shown in the new Guidelines, Japanese imperialism is emerging as a frontal enemy with the 3rd largest armament in the world against the revolutionary struggles of the people of Asia. The task of the Japanese proletariat must be to fight against and overthrow Japanese imperialism in solidarity with Asian people’s struggles. Japanese advanced workers should determinedly fight against national chauvinistic attacks on Korean people in Japan, which is connected to the propaganda by Japanese government against North Korea.

Third, to promote the international joint struggle of workers and people of Asian countries/regions against Japanese and US imperialism.

We have exerted our efforts for the development of an anti-imperialist international joint struggle of Asian people since 1992. We have supported joint actions by anti-imperialist mass organisations of Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Nepal and South Korea, and its co-ordinating body. We have been at the head of the struggle by the people of Okinawa against the largest US military base in the Far East and have developed international solidarity between struggles against US bases in Korea and Okinawa.

We would like to express our determined resolution to make further contributions to the development of the anti-imperialist international joint struggle of Asian people. We appeal to comrades throughout the world, especially comrades of the Asian-Pacific region: Organise a movement against the newGuidelines in every country/region. Beware of military aggression by Japanese imperialism as well as US imperialism. Let us develop an anti-imperialist international joint struggle!

March 4, 1999

Contribution to the 8^th International Communist Seminar, Brussels, 2-4 May 1999

Theme: Imperialism means War