Source: Patch One Knife
Writing / Sword laughter
Why is Japan "stepping up preparations for a possible war with China?"
In today's latest article in a Bloomberg column, Hull Brandes, a professor at Hopkins University in the United States, directly threw out this question in the title, unambiguously admitting that Japan is expanding its arms war, and is also ready to "justify" Tokyo with the entire article.
In order to find out the will to join forces with the United States to contain China and even the "determination to go to war", this professor of international relations has just embarked on a four-country trip. Tokyo is just the first stop, followed by Australia, the UK and the "often wobbly" India.
Brandes "copied and pasted" the Japanese right wing and Washington's slander and smear against China, expressed understanding of Japan's self-aggrandizing "external threat", and even praised Japan's current "security and diplomatic investment" to bind its alliance with the United States.
But even the American professor "inadvertently" exposed that Japan has been trying to "acquire weapons" under similar pretexts.
While strengthening its alliance with the United States, Brandes also noted that Japan has actually been quietly studying a "Plan B" once the United States becomes unreliable.
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Brandes embarked on a two-week trip wearing a pair of "tinted glasses" for China.
On the day of departure, on the 3rd, he posted an article in a Bloomberg column, with the title of which directly proposed that "the United States can contain China with the help of a five-nation alliance."
According to him, the "five" also include Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and "sometimes distant" India.
Between the lines, Brandes repeated Washington's smear attacks on China.
The article falsely accused China of "seriously challenging the power of the United States in the Indo-Pacific and the international system supported by it", saying that the full-scale showdown between the United States and China in the region and even the outbreak of war are "more and more credible", and the United States will need "strong help" from the other four countries at that time.
And his trip was precisely to inquire about the reality of the four countries' "determination to war against China" for the United States.
With this preset position, as soon as he arrived in Tokyo, Brandes "understood" and even "empathized" with Japan's self-military lifting of the ban.
After staying in Japan for 3 days, this American professor updated his column on the 7th: "Why Japan is stepping up preparations for a possible war with China."
The article echoes the logic of the Japanese right-wing exaggeration of the "China threat." "Although the weather in Tokyo is good, there is a strong atmosphere of impending storm." Brand regarded the self-hype of the Japanese right-wing "nervousness" and "worry" as a fact, and "today's Ukraine is tomorrow's East Asia" and "what happens in Taiwan is something in Japan" and so on have become a matter of course for him.
As a result, Tokyo, especially the Japanese right-wing, accelerated military de-restraint and became "forced."
Japan has doubled its military spending to 2% of GDP within five years, wants to turn the southwestern islands into a military stronghold full of anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, and is preparing to introduce US Tomahawk missiles and acquire "attack capabilities against enemy bases"; Strengthen cooperation with the United States in security and other fields, and cooperate with the United States in the "Indo-Pacific" to compile a network to contain China...
These actions, which have aroused the general vigilance of the Asia-Pacific region and even the international community, have come to Professor Brandes' mouth with a different set of rhetoric: it is the "China threat" that has caused Japan's national strategy to undergo a "quiet change" and "promote that country to prepare for war."
Japan's moves are "good news for Washington."
Holding it until the end, Brandes finally told the big truth. Once the situation in the Taiwan Strait changes or even a war breaks out, "the use of Japanese military bases and the direct participation of Japanese military forces will be much more beneficial to the United States." He also "praised" the steady evolution of U.S.-Japan relations from one-way security after World War II to a "more authentic partnership."
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However, the "sympathy" and even "beautification" of an American professor cannot in any way conceal Japan's substantive intention to rashly advance toward a military power.
And even Brandes himself "inadvertently" exposed Japan's related tricks.
In an op-ed on the 7th, he mentioned that the recent development of the situation on the peninsula has provided "legitimacy" to various actions in the Japanese military field. Immediately after the conversation, Brandes revealed that a Japanese government official admitted to him "in private exchanges":
Each crisis on the peninsula gave Japan a greater excuse to acquire weapons and equipment.
In fact, without Brandes' exposure, it has long been a well-known fact that Japan has accelerated its arms expansion by clamouring for the deterioration of the situation on the peninsula and the "Chinese military threat."
Just yesterday, Japan held an "international ship parade" in Sagami Bay, Kanagawa Prefecture, not far from Tokyo, on the pretext of commemorating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Maritime Self-Defense Force. 20 ships and submarines of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and 18 ships from 12 countries including the United States, Australia and Inca participated.
Kyodo News and other Japanese media mostly highlighted two pieces of information in their reports:
This is Japan's first "international ship parade" in 20 years, which means "breakthrough significance"; In addition, "Russia was not invited, China did not attend", and the parade was especially actively "supported" by Western countries such as the United States and Australia, which somewhat revealed a hint of confrontation.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida observed on the quasi-aircraft carrier "Izumo", and his mouth was again "three old sentences":
First, the DPRK's nuclear and missile development is "absolutely not allowed"; Second, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict proves that "it is necessary to guard against the use of force or intimidation to trample on the peace and security of other countries"; Third, of course, it is indispensable to allude to China, "taking into account China's actions," Kyodo News quoted Kishida as saying, "including the East China Sea and the South China Sea, the severity of Japan's surrounding security environment has increased sharply."
As soon as the front was erected, Kishida touted the proposed security policy changes:
Thoroughly strengthen defense within 5 years; Maritime defense is important to island nations, with intentions to enhance ship and missile response capabilities and improve the treatment of Self-Defense Force personnel; Security-related initiatives will be detailed to nationals and the international community...
Two days before the parade, on the 4th, Japan's announcement of its formal accession to the NATO Cyber Defense Center has aroused a wave of strong concern.
As early as June this year, when Kishida went to Brussels to attend the NATO summit, Japan's domestic defense experts analyzed that Kishida intended to seize the opportunity to win international support for his foreign and security policy, and the most important thing in Japan's current security and defense policy is to "deal with China's military threat." Although Tokyo has been criticized for "leading the wolf into the house" of the Asia-Pacific region.
Japan's efforts, including the signing of a Reciprocal Access Agreement with the United Kingdom in December to deepen defense ties, are in line with a consistent practice of constantly hyping up "external threats" and inciting and exploiting the sense of crisis in the domestic population.
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Japan faces many obstacles to lifting its self-imposed ban, but Brandes said "the overall trend is clear and likely to continue for a long time."
However, while "stealing joy" for Washington because Japan has strengthened its binding to the US tank, this American professor also felt more clearly Japan's wariness of becoming US strategic cannon fodder from contacts and exchanges with Japanese political and academic circles:
This is not to say that the United States and Japan will be completely "on the same page."
The volatile dynamics of American politics, especially the shadow of the Trump era, have left America's allies, including Japan, with doubts about Washington's reliability lingering. Brandes said he learned in Tokyo that some Japanese think tanks were "quietly" working on geopolitical "Plan B" to prevent Trump-style politicians from returning to power in Washington.
In addition to this short-term "psychological trauma", Japan's obsession with seeking "national normalization" also includes diversifying the country's foreign strategy and freeing itself from all aspects of the United States since World War II, which is considered to be a long-held idea in Tokyo.
Japan's reliance on the "self-improvement" of the US alliance is precisely in the hope of getting rid of the United States one day, and the United States is "letting the tiger return to the mountain" by conniving at Japan's self-military relaxation ... Similar analyses have not been uncommon internationally.
Brandes, who has made various justifications for Japan's remilitarization, said Tokyo's military and diplomatic investments today make Japan a better U.S. ally, which will be an insurance against future changes. What's changing? "The United States has once again retreated to isolationism and manic unilateralism."
It can be seen that this American professor is also sweating for Japan.