Dozens of Japanese tanks are participating in a large-scale exercise on the northern islands of Hokkaido to demonstrate their military strength, which coincides with the recent escalation of military operations by China and Russia on Japanese territory

ENIWA, Japan-On Monday, dozens of tanks and soldiers fired explosives and machine guns during an exercise on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which is probably the main base of the world's least-known military power.

Facing rival Russia across the sea, Japan disclosed the shooting exercises of the Self-Defense Forces to the media to demonstrate public firepower, which coincided with the recent escalation of military operations by China and Russia on Japanese territory.

The exercise that foreign journalists rarely have the opportunity to witness will last nine days and will be attended by approximately 1,300 Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers. On Monday, when hundreds of soldiers cheered and waved troops' flags on the sidelines, rows of tanks opened fire on targets representing enemy missiles or armored vehicles.

These exercises illustrate a fascinating and easily missed point. Although Japan formulated a formal peace constitution when the memory of the rampage of World War II was still alive and painful, it had an army that shamed all but a few countries.

Moreover, because of the many threats lurking in Northeast Asia, its hawkish leaders desire more.

This is not an easy task. In a country that is still condemned by many neighbors for its past military actions, any military buildup is controversial in a place where domestic pacifism is high.

Japan has always focused on its defense capabilities and has carefully avoided using the term "military" in its military. However, in order to protect their territorial and military interests against aggressive China, North Korea, and Russia, Tokyo officials are urging the people to shelve general concerns about the stronger role of the military and support increased defense spending.

In fact, tens of billions of dollars a year has built an arsenal of nearly 1,000 fighters and dozens of destroyers and submarines. The Japanese army is comparable to the British and French armies, and there is no sign of slowing down in the pursuit of the best equipment and weapons that money can buy.

Not everyone agrees with this accumulation. Japan’s neighbors and domestic critics have urged Tokyo to learn from the past and withdraw from military expansion.

The country is also cautious about nuclear weapons. Japan is the only country that dropped an atomic bomb during the war. Unlike other top military forces in the world, Japan has no nuclear deterrent and relies on the so-called US nuclear umbrella.

However, supporters of the new military said that the expansion is timely and vital to Japan’s alliance with Washington.

In recent years, China and Russia have strengthened military cooperation in response to the growing US-led regional partnership.

In October, a fleet of 5 warships from China and Russia circled Japan and crossed the Pacific Ocean to the East China Sea. Last month, their fighter planes flew together near Japanese airspace, causing Japanese fighter jets to scramble. The Ministry of Defense of Japan stated that in the 2020 fiscal year ending in March, Japanese fighter jets were dispatched more than 700 times, of which two-thirds were aimed at Chinese fighters, and the rest were mainly aimed at Russian fighters.

The Russian military has also recently deployed a coastal defense missile system "fortress" near disputed islands off the coast of northern Hokkaido.

Japan disarmed after its defeat in World War II. But one month after the beginning of the Korean War in 1950, the US occupation forces in Japan established a lightly armed de facto army of 75,000 members, called the National Police Reserve. The country’s current military self-defense force was established in 1954.

Today, Japan's comprehensive military strength ranks fifth in the world, second only to the United States, Russia, China, and India, and its defense budget ranks sixth out of 140 countries in 2021 on the global firepower rating website.

During the more than 38-year rule of the ultra-conservative former Prime Minister Shin Abe that ended a year ago, Japan significantly expanded its military role and budget. Abe also downplayed Article 9 of the constitution that gave up war in 2015, allowing Japan to defend the United States and other partner countries.

Japan quickly strengthened its military role in its alliance with Washington and purchased more expensive American weapons and equipment, including fighter jets and missile interceptors.

"Japan faces different risks from many sources," said Heigo Sato, a professor and defense expert at Takushoku University's World Research Institute in Tokyo.

These risks include North Korea’s growing willingness to test high-powered missiles and other weapons, provocations by Chinese armed fishing vessels and maritime police ships, and the deployment of missiles and navy by Russia.

A North Korean missile flew over Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific in 2017. In September, another missile landed in the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone in northwestern Japan.

According to the bilateral security agreement, Japan has approximately 50,000 US troops, most of which are stationed in the southern island of Okinawa. Together with Japanese troops in Hokkaido, it is of strategic significance to the US presence in the Pacific.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October, stated in the first military review that he would consider "all options", including the possibility of pursuing a preemptive strike capability to further "enhance Japan's national defense capabilities." The issue of division violates the Constitution.

Japan has more than 900 fighters, 48 ​​destroyers, including 8 Aegis missile combat systems and 20 submarines. This surpasses Britain, Germany and Italy. Japan has also purchased 147 F-35s, including 42 F-35Bs, making it the largest user of American stealth fighters outside the United States, and will deploy 353 in the United States.

Their deployment is crucial to Japan’s defense in the Indo-Pacific region. The country is now refitting two flat-top ships, Izumo and Kaga, as the country’s first aircraft carrier since the end of World War II.

One of Japan’s biggest concerns is China’s increased naval activities, including an aircraft carrier that has been repeatedly spotted off Japan’s southern coast.

Japan generally maintains its defense budget cap at 1% of its GDP, although in recent years the country has faced calls from Washington to increase spending.

Kishida stated that he is willing to double the upper limit to reach NATO's 2% standard.

As a first step, his cabinet recently approved an additional budget of 770 billion yen (US$6.8 billion) for this fiscal year to accelerate missile defense and reconnaissance activities around Japan’s territorial waters and airspace, and to enhance mobility and emergency response. Defend its remote islands in East China. This will bring total defense spending in 2021 to 6.1 trillion yen (53.2 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 15% over the previous year and accounting for 1.09% of Japan’s GDP.

Experts say that the price Japan must pay now is to increase its defense budget to make up for most of the shortfall after the war, when Japan placed economic growth above national security.

As China adopts a tough attitude in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan has become a regional hotspot. Democracies such as Japan and the United States have established closer ties with the autonomous islands that Beijing regards as traitorous territories, and reunite with force if necessary.

China’s construction of military facilities in the South China Sea has aggravated Tokyo’s concerns in the East China Sea. The Senkaku Islands controlled by Japan have also been claimed by Beijing as the Diaoyu Islands. China dispatched an armed maritime police fleet that often circled around them, in and out of waters claimed by Japan, and sometimes chased Japanese fishing boats in the area.

Japan has deployed the PAC3 land-to-air missile interceptor on Yonaguni Island, the westernmost point only 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of Taiwan.

Partly due to the relative decline in the United States’ global influence, Japan has expanded its military partnerships and joint exercises beyond its alliance with the United States, including with Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and other European countries, as well as the Southeast Asian Association. Asian countries. Japan also cooperates with NATO.

Although the government believes that more is needed, the country is still concerned about the rapid expansion of Japan's defense capabilities and costs.

"Although national defense policy requires flexibility to respond to changes in the national security environment, soaring defense budgets may cause neighboring countries to misunderstand that Japan is becoming a military power and accelerate the arms race," the Tokyo Shimbun said in a recent editorial. .

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