Japan Press Weekly

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2023 January 25 - 31 [POLITICS]

Use of airports in southwestern Japan for military purposes increased

A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport data shows that the use of Japan's civil airports by U.S. military and Self-Defense Forces aircraft is concentrated in the Kyushu and Okinawa regions.

According to the data, the number of U.S. military flights to and from airports in Kyushu and Okinawa totaled 2,034 between 2012 and 2021, accounting for about 70% of all U.S. military flights at airports in Japan. SDF aircraft used 69 airports in Japan in 2021. The ratio of SDF flights at airports in Kyushu and Okinawa to the total was 74.4% in 2021, up 9.9% from 2012.

A major reason is the U.S. military strategy that assumes an armed conflict with China. By mobilizing U.S. allies, the U.S. administration is aiming at preventing China as an emerging power from advancing into the western Pacific and at maintaining U.S. supremacy in the Indo-Pacific region. In the event of a "Taiwan contingency", U.S. troops and bases in Japan will be decisively important for the U.S. because Japan is located close to both mainland China and the island of Taiwan.

All of Japan is, however, within the range of missiles from China. In particular, large air bases, including the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, have a high risk of being hit by missiles.

In order to avoid excessive risk and to foil an enemy's focus on attacking large-base targets, the U.S, Air Force adopts tactics called Agile Combat Employment (ACE) which disperses large-scale air wings into small-sized units to flexibly operate at remote, provisional bases. The ACE doctrine the USAF published last August cites gaining access to civil or military airports in partner countries as one condition for the dispersal operation.

For the U.S. military, relocating its units may lower the risk. However, airports to which these units are relocated may in turn become military targets.

A report regarding a "Taiwan contingency" released this month by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. military thinktank, points out that the expansion of U.S. access to civil airports can increase the number of targets China would attack and therefore can effectively reduce the stockpiles of China's missiles.

In short, the U.S. strategy does not care about damage to Japan's civil airports and local residents living near the airports. It only cares about ways to lower the damage the U.S. military may incur. The Kishida administration is promoting a major arms buildup. This is not for protecting Japanese land and people. It is for selling out the nation to the United States.