How Trump forced Japan to take security into its own hands
- This could be the year Japan finally comes to terms with its own defence, after years of taking cues from the US
- But a long-standing policy of shielding its people from the realities of the US alliance is likely to tear Japanese society in two
In the quarter century since the end of the cold war, which did not conclude with a “peace dividend” for East Asia, Japan has had to cope with the changing times. Throughout the 1990s, its alliance with the US was redefined, and Tokyo has had to confirm that such an alliance is still relevant. It has also sought to normalise its security policy while continuing its pacifist tradition. The ability to send its Self Defence Forces to peace missions overseas, and exercise collective self-defence with the US, were important steps during this period.
But Japan is now facing the sobering reality that its security environment has changed, more so than the incremental steps it has so far taken towards bolstering its defences would suggest.
Asia has faced its fair share of security challenges in the past – from the Soviet military build-up of the 1950s and 1960s, to China becoming a nuclear power in 1964 and the North Korean nuclear crisis that still rumbles on to this day – but none of these crises changed the fundamentals of East Asian security, since the US’ relative military superiority and resolve were never in question.