Security-related bills were passed in September 2015, and various security rules have changed.
The main feature of this amendment is the partial recognition of the exercise of the right of collective self-defense.
The permission to exercise the right of collective self-defense, which the Cabinet Legislation Bureau has regarded as unconstitutional, will attack countries closely related to Japan, threatening Japan's peace and our lives. It was said that the right of collective self-defense could be exercised.
In addition, the content of logistical support activities has been expanded, and when other countries are fighting for situations that have an important impact on Japan's safety, the SDF's ammunition is provided outside the battlefield and refueling work is done to fighters. Is now possible.
Tatemae [ Closely related country However, this close country is the United States, and the purpose of this law is to strengthen the system in which Japan and the United States jointly work on security in the Asia-Pacific region.
Since this bill, the number of joint US-Japan trainings has increased, and Japan-US cooperation in defense has been strengthened.
Although the introduction has become long, why did Japan (government) change the security-related bill by strengthening the Japan-US alliance while many people said that the exercise of the right of collective self-defense was unconstitutional? ??
Security-related bill enactment and defense guidelines
The answer is simple.
[ Because America wanted it ] It is no exaggeration to say.
After the war, the United States was involved in various problems around the world as a policeman in the world, but during the time of President Obama in 2013, [ America is not the policeman in the world ], The intervention became reluctant, and it gradually became difficult for each country to maintain the security of the world.
If the United States quits the police of the world, a blank area will be created there, especially in the Taihei region of Asia where we live, allowing the rise of China.
So the United States said, [ This area cannot be protected by the United States alone, so please help Japan too ♡ ] I came to demand.
The Government of Japan also wants to avoid the withdrawal of the United States from the East Asian region amid the rise of China and the threat of North Korea, so it has decided to enact security-related laws, albeit forcibly.
Also, Japan promised the United States [ Protect the Asia-Pacific region together . ] Is not the only one.
The guidelines prior to the enactment of the security bill include [ cannot be geographically defined as a situation that has a significant impact on Japan's peace and security . ] Is written. In other words, Japan [ will follow the end of the earth in situations that threaten Japan's security . ] I promised that.
| Second guideline | Third guideline | |
| Use force | When Japan is attacked ↓ ↓ Japan and the United States implement joint coping actions | When Japan is attacked ↓ ↓ Japan and the United States carry out joint coping processing ＋ Supports attacks on other countries ＝ Exercise of collective self-defense |
| Logistics support | Limited to the area around Japan such as the Korean Peninsula | Geographically unlimited global |
| Gray zone situation (Illegal occupation of remote islands) | No description | Continuous response from normal times through surveillance, reconnaissance, military exercises, etc. |
| Adjustment mechanism | Activate only for surrounding situations and emergencies in Japan | November 2015 Configuration of Alliance Coordination Mechanism |
History of US-Japan Guidelines
The Japan-US Guidelines are documents that determine the division of roles between the Self-Defense Forces and the US military when Japan is attacked by foreign countries.
So far, the defense guidelines between Japan and the United States have determined how the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. Army will cooperate in the event of an armed attack on Japanese territory. With the establishment of related bills and the Third Japan-US Guidelines, the state of the Japan-US alliance based on security has changed significantly.
1978 The first Japan-US guidelines at the time of the Cabinet of Takeo Fukuda assumed the invasion of Hokkaido by Soviet troops, and after the guidelines were formulated, concrete joint training was conducted between Japan and the United States.
1997 The Second Japan-US Guidelines stipulate how Japan and the United States will cooperate to maintain Japan's peace in the surrounding area in addition to defending Japan's territory. The Peripheral Situation Law was a law that allowed the Self-Defense Forces to go out of Japan's territory and operate when a situation occurred in the surrounding area.
In 2001, the Act on Special Measures Against Terrorism was enacted to provide logistical support to the United States attacking Afghanistan. It was enacted.
In this way, as the times progressed, Japan's responsibility in the Japan-US alliance became heavier.
A turning point in the US-Japan guidelines
Until the 1980s, the Self-Defense Forces existed to protect Japanese territory, and overseas activities were not envisioned. Also, many Japanese thought that it was important not to be involved in the wars of other countries in order to protect peace.
However, this idea was fundamentally overturned in 1991 . Gulf War was.
At that time, the President of the United States [ George Bush (father) ] However, when fighting in the multinational army, I asked the Japanese government to ask the Self-Defense Forces for logistical support. However, the government abandoned the purchase of the Self-Defense Forces because dispatching could be unconstitutional.
Instead, it provided $ 13 billion in financial assistance to the multinational forces.
However, this financial cooperation has a low international reputation, and Japan was not included in the US thank-you newspaper advertisement for the countries that contributed to the liberation of Kuwait after the Gulf War.
This event was a big blow to Japan, and there was a growing voice that Japan should not be a pacifist country in order to achieve international cooperation in the future.
1992 PKO Cooperation Act , which enabled the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to UN peacekeeping operations. It was enacted, and not only did the United States protect Japan, but Japan itself had to cooperate more with the U.S. military, peripheral situation law and security-related law . It led to the revision of.
| US-Japan Guidelines | Revision year and then Prime Minister | Reasons and major threats |
| Third guideline | Revised in 2015 [Shinzo Abe] | Assuming an emergency in the East China Sea with China's overseas expansion in mind |
| Second guideline | Revised in 1997 [Ryutaro Hashimoto] | Assuming an emergency on the Korean Peninsula where nuclear development problems are smoldering |
| Primary Guidelines | Revised in 1978 [Takeo Fukuda] | Assuming the Soviet Union's invasion of Japan due to the intensification of the Cold War |
Receive American asylum in the Cold War composition
1991 The Gulf War broke out shortly after the end of the Cold War.
The end of the Cold War was also a major turning point in considering the ideal state of US-Japan relations.
Japan lost the Pacific War to the United States [ GHQ ] Was ruled for a while under the occupation. The occupation policy at that time was to reduce military and economic power so that Japan would never become a major power again.
However, with the birth of East Asian socialist nations China and North Korea, Japan will shift its occupation policy to make it a breakwater in the region. We decided to draw Japan into the capitalist camp and support economic recovery and early independence.
1951 In addition, Japan is San Francisco Peace Treaty Signed the Japan-US Security Treaty to station US troops in Japan, making Japan a front-line base for protecting against the threat of the socialist camp.
This Japan-US security had great merits for Japan at that time, and by having the U.S. forces stationed in its own defense take over, it was possible to reduce defense spending and allocate that amount to economic policy. It led to high economic growth later.
However, with the end of the Cold War, Japan is no longer an unconditional opponent for the United States. Since then, the United States has urged us to contribute to our global strategy.
America, once the biggest enemy
The relationship between the United States and Japan was not until after World War II.
Prior to that, the United States was its greatest enemy.
Japan declared war on the United States and Britain in December 1941 Pacific War Has begun.
Japan won the first battle, but when the U.S. armament was ready, the battlefield changed completely, and in the 1945 bombing of Tokyo, about 100,000 messengers were sent, and in the Battle of Okinawa, about 180,000 military and civilian people disappeared. .. In August 1945, the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and finally the Potsdam Declaration was accepted and Japan surrendered.
At the beginning of the war, the GDP of Japan and the United States was 12 times higher, and the war with the United States itself was reckless. Even the upper management of Japan wanted to avoid the start of the war between Japan and the United States.
Even so, it is said that it was the swamping of the Japan-US war that started the war.
At that time, the United States and Britain were providing supplies to China. Therefore, in order to cut off the transportation route, Japan decided to advance to Southeast Asia and aimed to go south to secure the resources necessary for conducting the war.
It was decided to ban the export of steel, pig iron, copper, zinc, etc. to Japan one after another in the United States, which stiffened the attitude of this Japanese action. Japan, which was importing three-quarters of the oil it needed at the time from the United States, was just as suffocated by the ban on oil imports.
It is said that Japan, which was forced into this policy, started the war with the United States despite the difference in strength.
The confrontation with the United States is from World War I
The conflict between Japan and the United States was from the Second World War.
In World War I, Japan on the Allied side declared war on Germany. It occupies Qingdao in Shandong Province and the German southern archipelago, which Germany had borrowed from China. In addition, we requested China to inherit the rights of Germany in Shandong Province and strengthen the rights of South Manchuria, etc., and let China approve it.
The United States, which was distrustful of Japan with its territorial ambitions, became more cautious.
On the other hand, the United States respected China's sovereignty and believed that each country should compete equally after opening the market. Japan wanted to protect and expand the rights it had acquired during the Russo-Japanese War and World War I.
Nonetheless, it has no choice but to take an international cooperation line with Western countries centered on the United States, and at the Washington Conference that began in 1921, it also became a nine-country treaty that stipulated respect for sovereignty, open doors, and equal opportunity in China. Sign.
But 1931 Japanese military Manchurian Incident And occupy the main area.
And Japan founded Manchuria as a puppet state.
In 1937, the Sino-Japanese War broke out, Japan's international cooperation line collapsed, and relations with the United States became the worst, leading to the war.