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2024 September 25 - October 1 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Ishiba Shigeru the most hawkish in LDP

Ishiba Shigeru, who was elected as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on September 27, has the most hawkish stance in the LDP. During the presidential campaign, he said he would propose a motion for constitutional amendments during his term, called for the creation of an Asian version of NATO, and mentioned the strengthening of the Japan-U.S. military alliance.

On the website of the Hudson Institute, a U.S. conservative think tank, dated September 27, Ishiba contributed an article presenting an outline of the security policy of his government.

In the article, he states, “It is my mission to raise the Japan-US alliance to the level of the US-UK alliance.”

In the article, he implies that the war in Ukraine began with the invasion by Russia because Ukraine is not a NATO member. Saying, “Ukraine today is Asia tomorrow,” he calls for “the creation of an Asian version of NATO” in order to “deter China”. Furthermore, he suggests that the Asian version of NATO “specifically consider America’s sharing of nuclear weapons” in order to “ensure deterrence against the nuclear alliance of China, Russia, and North Korea”.

It is outrageous for a prime minister-to-be of Japan, the only country in the world to have suffered nuclear attacks, to go against the current global trend moving toward a world without nuclear weapons and advocate for the strengthening of nuclear forces throughout Asia.

Ishiba has expressed his intent to abolish Japan’s Three Non-Nuclear Principles (not to possess, produce, or allow the bringing-in of nuclear weapons) by suggesting that “the introduction of nuclear weapons into the region” also be specifically considered.

He states that he will work to enact a “Basic Law on National Security” to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, to ensure Japan’s ability to strike abroad with its enemy-base attack capability, and to double the country’s military budget. He adds that this law will be a pillar of his foreign and national security policy and “will be followed by the LDP’s long-cherished desire to revise the Constitution”.

He claims that now that Japan can use force jointly, shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. in wars abroad, the conditions are ripe to revise the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, what he calls the “asymmetrical bilateral treaty”, into a treaty between “ordinary countries”. He claims that “expanding the scope of joint management of U.S. bases in Japan would also reduce the burden on U.S. forces in Japan.”

He makes no mention of reducing the burden of U.S. military bases on residents in Okinawa. His priority is to “reduce the burden” on the U.S. military. Speaking of an alliance on an equal footing, what he calls for is nothing more than Japan’s continued subservience to the United States.