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Journal of Asia Pacific Studies ( 2010) Vol 1, No 2, 312-319 Why the West should Discourage Japanese Military Expansion Dr. David Robinson, Edith Cowan University (Australia) Abstract: Japanese foreign policy has gradually changed since the Cold War, as Japan’s allies have encouraged it to abandon the Yoshida Doctrine’s institutional pacifism and adopt a pro-active role in maintaining global security. This paper will examine the transition of Japanese foreign policy towards becoming a ‘normal’ state, and consider the questions of whether their quest for a United Nations Security Council seat should be supported, and if Asian nations are justified in emphasising Japanese war crimes in opposition to Japan’s expanding role. I will argue that replacing the Japanese army with an American security treaty helped to maintain Asian stability in the late Twentieth Century, and that most scenarios of expanding Japanese military power indicate an increased likelihood either of regional conflict or decreasing Western influence in the Asia-Pacific. Japan should thus be discouraged from developing its Self-Defense Force beyond minimal requirements. In this context Japan’s membership of the UN Security Council should not be supported, and references to past Japanese atrocities remain relevant and appropriate in discussions of Japan’s international role. Keywords: Japan, Militarism, Pacifism, Yoshida Doctrine, Security Japanese foreign policy has gradually changed since the Cold War, as Japan’s allies have encouraged it to abandon the Yoshida Doctrine’s institutional pacifism and adopt a pro-active role in maintaining global security. This paper will examine the transition of Japanese foreign policy towards becoming a ‘normal’ state, and consider the questions of whether their quest for a United Nations Security Council seat should be supported, and if Asian nations are justified in emphasising Japanese war crimes in opposition to Japan’s expanding role. I will argue that replacing the Japanese army with an American security treaty helped to maintain Asian stability in the late Twentieth Century, and that most scenarios of expanding Japanese military power indicate an increased likelihood either of regional conflict or decreasing Western influence in the Asia-Pacific. Japan should thus be discouraged from developing its Self-Defense 312
Dr. David Robinson, Edith Cowan University (Australia) Force beyond minimal requirements. In this context Japan’s membership of the UN Security Council should not be supported, and references to past Japanese atrocities remain relevant and appropriate in discussions of Japan’s international role. The pacifist Yoshida Doctrine, which advocated the devotion of Japan’s national resources to economic development and an almost total reliance on the United States for defence, dominated Japanese foreign policy thinking throughout the Cold War. Henry Kissinger thought those “Japanese decisions [were] the most farsighted and intelligent of any major nation in the post-World War Two era” [Pyle, 1998, pp123-124]. Under the Yoshida Doctrine Japan resisted Western pressure to rearm and instead traded military bases to the US for protection. Japan was thus largely relieved of the burden of maintaining a military, and also benefited economically by supplying American forces in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars [Pyle, 1998, pp123-124]. Of course, the historical context of this pacifism was Japan’s destruction in World War Two, following more than half a century of imperialist Japanese foreign policy. Japan had fought wars in East Asia against China in 1894-95 and against Russia in 1905; annexed the Korean Peninsula in 1910, and devoted 70,000 troops to the allied invasion of Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution. They were subsequently the main imperialists in Asia during the 1930s and 40s, invading Manchuria in 1931, and sparking the Second Sino-Japanese War from July 1937 onwards through their continued encroachment into Chinese territory. The aim of conquering Chinese territory and creating a ‘Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere’ led to Japanese military expansion throughout the region, and World War Two in the Pacific [Mackerras, 1998, pp37-38]. After the war the United States occupied Japan, and secured their long-term military presence through the 1951 Security Treaty [Mackerras, 1998, p41]. In these circumstances the sublimation of Japanese energies into economic activity was both appropriate and welcomed by a region who feared them, and a Japan who could be said to fear itself [Matthews, 2003, p76]. With this new focus Japan re-emerged as a 313
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