- by William Briggs
- The Guardian
- Issue #2120
Japan’s new prime minister, Ishiba Shigeru has called for the creation of an ‘Asian NATO.’ It can only heighten tension in the region. What the world does not need is another military alliance and especially one that specifically targets China and the DPRK.
While many commentators are seeking to downplay the idea, it has long hung in the air as a future possibility. NATO itself has hinted at a greater “engagement” in the region and the US has been successfully urging Japan carry more of the load in its war-drive policies.
The right-wing Abe government earlier did the groundwork. Abe re-worked or ‘interpreted’ Japan’s constitutional limitations on the military. Ishiba was a fierce critic of Abe for not proceeding more quickly along the path to militarisation. As PM, Ishiba has promised to double the military budget by 2027.
The right-wing pro-war lobby group, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is rather excited by the prospect. A recent article by Ryosoku Hanada, in ASPI’s The Strategist, commented that the proposal could “warn” China.
There was a degree of coyness in Tokyo and Washington. New Japanese foreign minister, Takeshi Iwaya said that the new NATO idea is not “imminent.” He commented that “it’s difficult to immediately set up a mechanism that would impose mutual defence obligations in Asia, so it’s more of a vision for the future.”
Daniel Kritenbrink, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, fobbed off reporters with the line that it was too early for such talk.
Even while going through the motions of claiming that the PM’s plan is for some undefined time in the ‘future’ the Japanese foreign minister felt it necessary to assure a sceptical world that it would not be aimed at targeting ‘any specific country.’ Only the terminally naïve cannot join the dots. An Asian NATO would be targeting China. The DPRK would also be very much a focus for such a grouping, as would Russia.
The elevation of Ishiba to the role of prime minister is, of itself, significant. He has a long history of being ‘hawkish’ and is very much a right-wing figure in the conservative Japanese LDP. He has long been a critic of the constraints imposed upon Japan by its constitution, which at least formally prevents the country from going to war. His plan for an Asian NATO with Japan at its centre is in keeping with this desired shift in policy.
Ishiba, has called a snap election for the end of October. The former defence minister and now prime minister has promised to “put a smile back on the faces” of the people. He is promising better times for the low paid and is clearly seeking to use a rise in militarism as a means of winning popular support. Confecting a China threat and a threat from the DPRK allows him to pursue an openly militaristic line.
