Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2012 May 30 - June 5 [POLITICS]

Non-parliamentarian new defense chief advocates strengthening Japan-US military alliance

Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko in a Cabinet reshuffle appointed as the new defense minister non-parliamentarian Morimoto Satoshi who worked for the Liberal Democratic-Komei government as an expert on security issues.

In the May Japan-U.S. summit talks, the two governments confirmed that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. forces will further engage in joint operations abroad under the guise of a bilateral “dynamic defense cooperation.”

Morimoto was a member of a governmental panel on a creation of the Japanese version of the U.S. National Security Council under the Abe Cabinet in 2006 and served as a special advisor to the defense minister under the Aso Cabinet in 2009.

He obtained these important positions under the LDP-Komei government because he has a close working relationship with U.S. security officials and has consistently advocated strengthening the bilateral military alliance and revising the Japanese Constitution.

He holds the view that Japan can exercise the right to collective self-defense which would allow the SDF to use force in foreign countries.

In his book discussing the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, Morimoto states that Japan must place top priority on its alliance with the United States in order to secure the nation’s stability and prosperity. In another book focusing on Japan-U.S. military ties, he states that Japan should take the position of being willing to pay the costs of maintaining security together with the United States.

As well as expressing approval to send the SDF to Iraq, Morimoto from the start has supported the government plan to build a new U.S. base in Okinawa’s Nago City as an alternative to the U.S. Futenma base.