The Government of Japan is taking substantial steps towards breaking through the limits of a peaceful constitution. According to reports, the Ministry of Defense has identified two Aegis destroyers under construction with long-range ground-attack cruise missiles. The missile has a range of up to 1,000 kilometers and covers the coastal areas of eastern China. At the same time, the deployment time of anti-ship missiles that are still in the development stage has also been advanced to 2023. These measures underscore that Japan is accelerating its pace to break through the limits of military development.
It is the Japanese government's consistent tactic to gradually upgrade armaments to achieve a breakthrough in restrictions by hyping up regional security threats. Japan's recent deployment of multi-type missiles in advance on the grounds that the international situation is complex and the regional security threat is serious is actually to pave the way for the unbundling of military strength. With the adjustment of the US military deployment in the western Pacific, Japan has continuously strengthened its strategic coordination with the United States and actively acted as a "pawn" of the US "Indo-Pacific strategy", which is not only a positive response to the United States' demand that Japan play a more important role, but also a further declaration of its military alliance with the United States to the outside world.
According to Japanese media reports, Japanese Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party President Fumio Kishida recently reorganized the cabinet and simultaneously adjusted the personnel arrangements for the LDP's top level. Analysts pointed out that the reorganization, the removal of many cabinet members such as Japan's defense, may indicate that Japan's defense policy will change, and Abe's legacy of smooth and gradual defense policy will face adjustment.
According to the list of new cabinet members released by Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroichi Matsuno, all but 5 of the 19 cabinet members have been adjusted. The post of Defense Minister was replaced by 66-year-old Yasuichi Hamada, who had just visited Taiwan at the end of July with Japanese right-wing politician Shigeru Ishiba and others.
Experts believe that Kishida plans to launch three important documents this year, including the "National Security Guarantee Strategy," the basic outline has been determined, involving the situation in the Taiwan Strait, a substantial increase in military spending, and the "counterattack capability" of attacking the enemy's command center.
Break free from the ambitions of the post-war order and not die
In recent years, Japan has continued to "take small steps" in an attempt to break free from the shackles of the post-war order and to build an autonomous military capability.
On the one hand, it is necessary to speed up the formulation of a defensive strategy that is compatible with the US strategy and further strengthen cooperation with the US military alliance. Within this year, Japan will usher in the revision of three major strategic documents in the field of diplomacy and security, namely the National Security Strategy, the Outline of the Defense Plan, and the Medium-term Defense Improvement Plan. This is an important step in Kishida's codification of his own security judgments, strategic intentions, and political demands. At that time, strengthening the military alliance with the United States, significantly increasing defense costs, and developing offensive armed forces will be reflected in them.
On the other hand, by constantly rendering external threats, we have gained the support of public opinion at home and abroad for Japan to regain its "military control." Kishida has characterized the new cabinet as one that can respond to the "problem" situation and resolutely implement policies. In Japanese, the word "something" generally refers to crises related to war and armed conflict in a political context.
Kishida said at a news conference on the day of the cabinet reshuffle that Japan is in a "increasingly harsh security environment" and reiterated that it will "fundamentally strengthen its defense capabilities within five years." It is not excluded that Japan's next step will be to "gain autonomy in responding to peripheral events" as an excuse to create an atmosphere of public opinion on constitutional revision and create conditions for constitutional revision.
Today, Japan always talks about "peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," but forgets that it bears historical responsibility for the Taiwan issue. The inexperience on the historical issue has always been incomplete, the impatient behavior on the issue of "revising the Constitution and expanding the army," and the "leading the way" and actively cooperating with the US and Western military forces have all forced neighboring countries to doubt Japan's intentions.
Strengthen the deployment of long-range cruise missiles
At present, the Japanese government has confirmed that the newly built anti-missile Aegis destroyer will be equipped with long-range cruise missiles for the first time. The missile is said to be an improved version of the Land Self-Defense Force Type 12 shore ship missile, with a range extended to about 1000 kilometers and can be launched from surface ships.
"Chosun Ilbo" noted that according to Japan's pacifist constitution, Japan can only carry out "special defense" to concentrate on blocking enemy attacks, and after carrying long-range cruise missiles, Japanese anti-missile Aegis destroyers will have the so-called "counterattack capability". Counterattack capability refers to the enemy command center that commands missile attacks in advance, that is, the "ability to attack enemy bases," "a term used by Japan's Liberal Democratic Party to evade controversy over a peaceful constitution."
Japan's efforts to break through the limits of the pacifist Constitution and develop a ground attack capability have long been limited by the lack of long-range strikes. It was only in recent years that the United States approved the sale of some advanced long-range missiles to Japan under the name of "targeting China." But Japan is not content to be subject to this. Since the launch of the Type 12 shore-based missile, Japan has begun to develop an extended range model, planning to increase its strike range to 900 kilometers or even 1500 kilometers. The Chosun Ilbo said with concern that "the 1,000-kilometer range covers not only the entire Korean Peninsula, but also the eastern part of China."
What is more alarming is that not only Aegis destroyers can carry long-range cruise missiles. The latter only uses surface ships as a launch platform, which can be controlled by pre-designed routes and data links after liftoff, and the requirements for the launch platform are not high. This also means that in the future, a large number of destroyers and frigates of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force can theoretically be simply modified to launch long-range cruise missiles. In addition, Japan is also developing submarine-launched and air-launched versions based on Type 12 shore-based missiles. Once these missiles are equipped in large quantities, the long-range strike capability of the Self-Defense Forces will be unprecedentedly enhanced in the future.
Simultaneous development of multiple offensive weapons
"Yomiuri Shimbun" said that a number of Japanese government officials recently revealed that as an alternative to abandoning the deployment of the land-based Aegis anti-missile system, the Japanese government decided to build two anti-missile Aegis destroyers, for which the Ministry of Defense has purchased the latest SPY-7 Aegis radar system from the United States, as well as the "Standard-6" long-range air defense missile that can deal with cruise missiles.
According to the US National Interest website, the SPY-7 radar is more powerful than the radar of Japan's active Aegis destroyers, and can simultaneously detect, track and respond to complex ballistic missile threats, but its radar antenna area is also larger, requiring Japan to redesign the hull of the destroyer. Originally due to the stability requirements of the anti-missile system, the Ministry of Defense considered the use of avant-garde catamaran or trimaran designs. However, in the end, Japan believed that "it is necessary to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible" and determined that the anti-missile Aegis destroyer still adopts the traditional design, but has greatly improved in terms of displacement, electronic equipment, and weapons carrying capacity. The project is huge, expected to cost more than 500 billion yen (about $3.7 billion), and will be completed and launched within five years.
At the same time, Japan is also simultaneously purchasing or developing a variety of long-range ground strike weapons, including the US-made JASSM stealth cruise missile mounted by F-15J fighter jets, and hypersonic missiles launched from air, ground or surface ships, to build the so-called "attack capability against enemy bases." The outside world has noticed that the hypersonic missile project developed by Japan in particular has a very obvious intention against China.
According to the plan of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, hypersonic cruise missiles (HCM) and hypersonic gliders (HVGP) will be developed simultaneously in the future. When introducing HVGP, the Japanese media deliberately emphasized that it will be used for "outlying island operations", and in recent years, Japan's enhanced ability to seize islands, the main hypothetical enemy is considered to be China.