Who is America's closest ally?
- By An Gang
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E-mail Beijing Review, June 19, 2015
Closer than ever
During Abe's recent U.S. visit, both countries confirmed that the U.S.-Japan military alliance has been upgraded from regional- to global-level through the signing of the new Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation.
In March, the two sides had reached consensus on renewing bilateral defense cooperation at the Security Consultative Committee (2+2) meeting attended by top U.S. and Japanese diplomatic and defense officials.
It has been 18 years since the last amendment of the defense guidelines. The U.S.-Japan alliance was established as early as 1951 and primarily targeted the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. In 1960, the first revision of the defense cooperation guidelines specified the United States' obligation to protect Japan. The two countries made a second revision to the guidelines in 1997 and allowed the Japan Self-Defense Forces to play rear-area support roles in U.S. military operations in the event of a conflict in areas surrounding Japan. It marked the transformation of the nature of the U.S.-Japan alliance from defense to regional intervention.
The new guidelines establish a framework for global military cooperation between the United States and Japan. "It's an historic transition in the defense relationship between our countries," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at a press conference after signing the new guidelines on April 27.
Obviously, both the United States and Japan have taken what they respectively need from their enhanced alliance. At present, the Obama administration is implementing its strategic rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region. But the United States is unable to fulfill its mission alone. It needs support from regional countries. For this reason, the Obama administration is trying to build security cooperation networks in the Asia-Pacific region with South Korea, South East Asian countries, Australia and India.
For a long time, the U.S.-Japan alliance has been a cornerstone of the U.S. policy toward the Asia-Pacific region. In 2011, then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the Obama administration's ambition to build the 21st Century as "America's Pacific Century." Under the scenario, Japan's position in U.S. Asian partnerships would predictably be lifted to a new level.
Japan's Abe administration pursues so-called "active pacifism" in order to bring back "a strong Japan" and change Japan into an "ordinary state" with full military independence. By making use of the ruling status of his Liberal Democratic Party and the right-tilting of Japanese society, Abe has attempted to modify Japan's post-war constitution, which restricts the country's military development, and to remold Japan's development pattern and foreign policy. Abe has his own aims in strengthening the alliance with the United States, including challenging China on territorial disputes and regional affairs with the help of the United States.
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