Militarization under Kishida: Nationalism and endangering Japan (China and Russia)
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan became the leader in early October 2021. Internally, the Kishida administration achieves very little. Hence, every month is a trade deficit, 40,000 deaths from the coronavirus under Kishida (17,730 deaths under the late Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga despite their collective time being higher), the Nikkei declined by 9.4% last year, inflation hit a recent 40-year high, a decline of 2.6% in real wages, and the national debt continues to be neglected so that Kishida can double the military expenditure.
The late Shinzo Abe (brutally assassinated) sought positive relations with the Russian Federation. Thus when Crimea reverted to the Russian Federation (taken from Russia under the Soviet Union), Abe continued to focus on positive relations with political elites in Moscow.
However, since Kishida took power, he is increasing tensions with China and the Russian Federation. At the same time, Kishida is seen greeting the leaders of Indonesia (West Papua and endless persecution of Papuans), Iran (females and other protesters are being killed), Turkey (occupies North Cyprus and North Syria – and Turkey also bombs the Kurds and Yazidis in Iraq, while also supporting the intrigues of Azerbaijan against Armenia), and other leaders who are a million miles from democracy (leaders of Vietnam and Saudi Arabia).
Naturally, Kishida remains silent about human rights concerning these nations and countless others. After all, his democratic mantra is a charade to militarize – by utilizing the anti-China and anti-Russia cards which resonate in the body politic of Japanese nationalism (began during the Meiji Period).
Kishida immediately erased all the positive links between Japan and the Russian Federation that developed under the Abe administration. Russians are indigenous to the Donbass (Donbas) region but have been bombed for many years by Ukraine. Also, the former leaders of France and Germany admit that the past peace accord was merely to buy time to develop the armed forces of Ukraine. Therefore, Kishida should have at least listened to Moscow before turning one hundred percent against the Russian Federation – once he understood that America and NATO powers wanted to escalate the crisis and send tens of billions worth of military arms.
Andrey Rudenko, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, said, “We have taken note of the [Japanese Prime Minister Fumio] Kishida administration’s accelerated implementation of abandoning a policy of peaceful development, which has been professed for many decades, and embarking on a track of fast-tracked militarization. Among the concrete steps along these lines are the holding of large-scale military exercises near Russia’s borders together with non-regional partners, the adoption of an updated version of doctrinal documents in the field of defense and security with a view to creating an attack potential and an unprecedented increase in defense spending.”
He continued, “We consider such activity by Tokyo as a serious challenge to the security of our country and the Asia-Pacific Region as a whole. We warn that if this practice continues, we will be forced to take proportionate counter-measures in order to block military threats to Russia.”
Abe would be aghast by the approach of Kishida toward the Russian Federation. After all, Abe sought cordial relations with the Russian Federation. However, the nations of China, North Korea, and the Russian Federation now all view Japan as being hostile – concerning the policies of the Kishida administration and his militarization agenda.
Rudenko said, “With the start of a special military operation in Ukraine the Kishida administration actively joined a West-orchestrated Russophobic campaign, thus dismantling the results of mutually beneficial cooperation accumulated over years.”
Reuters reports (last week), “Russia accused Japan on Thursday of abandoning decades of pacifist policy and embracing “unbridled militarization,” responding to a $320-billion defense plan announced by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week.”
Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, warned, the Kishida administration is “rejecting the country’s peaceful development… (and) has embarked on the path of an unprecedented build-up of its military power, including strike potential.”
Zakharova continued that Japan is “returning to unlimited militarization, which will inevitably provoke new security challenges and exacerbate tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Modern Tokyo Times recently said, “America – similar to supporting right-wing death squads during Operation Condor in South America and supplying military arms to international jihadists in Afghanistan in the 1980s: is apt at turning a blind eye when needed. However, for Northeast Asia, the militarization of Japan will lead to increased military spending throughout this part of the world.”
CHINA
China is also worried about Japan under Kishida concerning his militarization plans and comments concerning Taiwan. The spokesperson for the Defense Ministry of China, Tan Kefei, uttered Japan has “played up the so-called military threat” of China concerning “an ulterior motive and (this is) irresponsible.”
A national security document by Japan said the country faced “the severest and most complicated national security environment since the end of the war.” China was deemed “the greatest strategic challenge ever to securing the peace and stability of Japan.”
The Guardian reports, “The more forceful tone in the national security strategy is expected to anger China. The document, revised for the first time in almost a decade, identifies Beijing as a regional security threat and no longer states that Japan is seeking a ‘mutually beneficial strategic partnership’ with China.”
Wang Wenbin, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson of China, said, “Hyping up the ‘China threat’ to find an excuse for its military buildup is doomed to fail.”
Voice of America reports, “Australia and the United States want to integrate Japan into their combined military activities to push back on China’s ambitions in the Pacific.”
The Guardian reports, “Joe Biden has said the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if it came under attack from China, in an unusually forceful presidential statement in support of self-governing that drew a defiant response from Beijing.”
The biggest military build-up since the Second World War (despite Maoism in China to the Soviet Union in history) in Japan is happening under Kishida. Naturally, America not only welcomes this – but America is encouraging Japan to develop its armed forces and to join this nation in containing China and the Russian Federation.
Japan is the “divisionist dream of America” in Asia.
Hence, despite the enormous ratio of debt that Japan holds, the Kishida administration is laying out plans that will entrap the country into a spiral of militarization under “the whims of America.” Therefore, Kishida is putting Japan into the pro-America camp to the extreme by increasing tensions with China and the Russian Federation – which bodes ill for the people of Japan.
Also, if Japan continues to upgrade its armed forces to the level of threat aimed at China concerning America’s intrigues involving the Taiwan issue – while being protected by America’s nuclear umbrella and American bases throughout the country: how can Japan reach out to China and the Russian Federation under Kishida’s military doctrine long after his term in office is over?
Japan should be worried by nationalist Kishida concerning his military and economic legacy that will further burden Japanese society long after he leaves office.
https://tass.com/politics/1558645
https://tass.com/politics/1558659
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