August 20, 2023

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on August 19 issued a statement as the leaders of Japan, the United States, and South Korea published a joint statement after their summit meeting. The full text of Shii’s statement titled “The JCP opposes the move to create a new military framework” is as follows:

The leaders of Japan, the United States, and South Korea after their summit meeting held in the U.S. on August 18 issued a joint statement which declares that they will “enhance strategic coordination between the U.S.-Japan and U.S.-ROK alliances and bring our trilateral security cooperation to new heights”, expressing their intent to strengthen their deterrence capabilities through enhanced cooperation in the fields of military and economic security, for example by holding larger-scale trilateral military exercises on a regular basis. It also affirms the extended deterrence commitment by the U.S. to Japan and South Korea based on the threat of use of nuclear weapons.

This is a highly dangerous move, creating a new trilateral military-focused framework in line with the U.S. strategy, deepening the division in the Indo-Pacific region through bloc-building, and accelerating the vicious spiral of military-to-military confrontation in East Asia.

The JCP strongly opposes the move to create a military framework and deepen the division and confrontation in East Asia with the pretext that it is necessary to address challenges posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile developments and China’s attempts to alter the status quo with force although these acts are, needless to say, unacceptable.

The Japanese and U.S. leaders at their bilateral meeting agreed on the joint development of an advanced interceptor missile to deal with hypersonic weapons. The JCP strongly opposes this move as it will drag Japan deep into the U.S. military-led scheme of Integrated Air and Missile Defense, fuel a dangerous arms race, and heighten regional tensions.

The leaders of the three countries reaffirmed their support for ASEAN efforts and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. AOIP calls for an inclusive framework of peace involving all relevant countries in the region, which is contrary to the move to strengthen exclusion and bloc-building.

The need now is not to boost exclusion and bloc-building, but to promote a security framework which includes all countries in the region.