An Issue For President Obama s Initial Visit to China China s Be concerned About Japan s Military China and other

Asian nations are beginning to assess how the current election victory by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will alter Japanese defense policies. Beijing is hoping for a reversal or at least a slowdown of Japan s efforts in recent years to develop up its defenses against the growing military power of China, especially any joint defense efforts with the United States. Asian security issues are expected to be high on President Obama s agenda when he visits China in November. China and other Asian nations are beginning to assess how the current election victory by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will alter Japanese defense policies. Beijing is hoping for a reversal or a minimum of a slowdown of Japan s efforts in recent years to build up its defenses against the growing military energy of China, especially any joint defense efforts using the United States. Asian security issues are expected to be high on President Obama s agenda when he visits China in November. The DPJ s landslide victory Aug. 30 prompted calls amongst leaders for an equal U.S.Japan relationship. However it might be weeks prior to it is clear what such an equal relationship will mean. Japan s conservative newspaper Sankei Shimbun has called for continuity based on the alliance. The more moderate Yomiuri Shimbun thinks the DPJ, in calling for an alliance of equals, is simply clinging to an abstract idea that lacks specific policies and it warned the DPJ to avoid words and actions that could weaken the alliance. Japan s liberal newspaper Asahi Shimbun has forecast that the new policy will probably be revealed in two weeks when new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama attends the U.N. General Assembly and Group of 20 summit this month. Asahi also wants reassurance to the Japanese people and also the international community. No one seems to know whether or not the DPJ really desires to renegotiate the Pentagon plans for Japan to fund the transfer of most U.S. military forces from Okinawa to Guam in the next couple of years. Japan s neighboring countries are also worried about major changes by the DPJ in its defense technique. Hong Kong s center-left Sing Tao Daily warns that if Japan wants to ride this recovery train, its diplomacy has to tilt more toward China. Beijing s Youth Every day says Mr. Hatoyama s stated intention not to visit the Globe War II Yasukuni shrine, a controversial symbol for numerous Asian countries, has been taken by China as a positive signal. South Korean media are concerned concerning the DPJ approach to China, and to the six-party talks on North Korea s nuclear program. South Korea s leftist Hankyoreh Shinmun describes Japan s past insistence on bringing up citizen abduction problems that are not directly related to the agenda as having a deleterious effect on the talks and now welcomes Mr. Hatoyama s openness to possible dialogue with Pyongyang. China s state-run Global Times warns that Japan ought to avoid seeing itself

as the large boss in Asia. Taiwanese commentators worry that closer relations with China could lead it to concede to feasible requests from Beijing to push Taiwan out of the U.S.-Japan security relationship. South Korea s Chosun Ilbo argues for continuity simply because the U.S.-Japan alliance has been an axis of Northeast Asian security alongside the U.S.-Korea alliance. Why does China s media seem so alarmed concerning the Japanese military? Judging from Chinese comments, you will find seven main developments more than the past couple of years that Beijing is seeking to cancel or stall. Japan s army divisions deployed in western and southern locations closer to China have been left largely intact despite cuts in the north. In 2002, the 700-strong Western Army Infantry Regiment charged with amphibious operations was formed in Nagasaki prefecture and a brigade based in Okinawa. It doubled its maneuver elements and added much more than 850 personnel. The F-4 airdefense squadron on Okinawa was upgraded to a squadron of F-15s. Japan discussed deploying ground forces and jet fighters on little islands located about halfway between Okinawa and Taiwan. The 2005-09 Mid-Term Defense Program established the Central Readiness Force (CRF). The CRF brings many of Japan s mobile and unique units under a single command reporting directly towards the defense chief. CRF units consist of Japan s Helicopter Brigade, Airborne Brigade, Special Operations Group (established 2004) and Chemical Defense Unit, which could play a role in against any hypothetical Chinese seizure of the Senkaku Islands. In between 1998 and 2003, the Maritime Self-Defense Forces commissioned three 14,700-ton Osumi-class ships, designated as landing ships. 4 times as big as any prior Japanese landing ship, the Osumi can accommodate two big hovercraft. From 2010 to 2014, two big helicopter carriers are to be built, in this case designated as a destroyer but resembling small aircraft carriers. At 20,000 tons when fully loaded, they will be able to deal with AV-8s Harriers or some versions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Contingency plans for operations against China have been generated for the very first time, and training has been adjusted accordingly. In November 2004, the Defense Agency compiled plans for counteroffensive operations within the event China seized the disputed Senkaku Islands east of Taiwan, based on BBC reporting from Tokyo. The Japanese media have reported that these plans call for dispatching troops, warplanes, destroyers and submarines. During the initial phases, sea-and airreconnaissance craft would provide intelligence. Lastly, units of the Western Army Infantry Regiment (Nagasaki), designated as Japan s amphibious assault force, would retake the captured islands. In February 2006, a Yamasaki physical exercise, a biannual joint JapanU.S. Army command-post physical exercise, focused for the very first time on a counteroffensive scenario against enemy forces occupying one or more small southwestern islands, according to Sankei newspaper. * In June 2007, eight Japanese F-2s fighter-bombers deployed to Guam and conducted the aircraft s first-ever live-bomb runs. It was only the third time that any Japanese fighter aircraft had conducted bombing runs within the organization s 60-year history.

The shift in political power in Tokyo, when combined with China s continuing lack of transparency in its military buildup, deserves close attention in the weeks and months ahead. Prior to Mr. Obama s trip to China, the United States will require to examine cautiously what changes the new DPJ has in mind for China. By on the best manga