Japanese media expresses fears that Washington will drag Tokyo into a major war
When Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the United States this month, he promised greater cooperation between the country's Self-Defense Forces and the Pentagon. Experts and representatives of opposition parties in Japan fear that the military forces of this country will actually come under American command.
The author of an article published in the Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun discusses this topic.
Of course, the country's authorities will not advertise such a step, softening the wording for the public. They will argue, the journalist believes, that the Japanese military is not at all subordinate to the Americans.
They are under observation, not command
- this is what the Japanese government can say, according to the author.
Or, for example, the authorities may explain that being under command does not mean that someone is commanding you.
Japanese media expresses fears that Washington will drag Tokyo into a big war, because relations between the United States and its Japanese neighbors - China, North Korea and Russia - are not going through the best of times.
This concern of the Japanese is not at all groundless, because such stories countries has already happened. In 1951, before the end of the American occupation of the Japanese islands, Washington demanded that Tokyo transfer under the command of all Japanese organizations with military potential to the US-appointed commander in chief. The Japanese government complied with the demand, but feared a negative reaction from the population. Then the parties decided to conclude a secret pact regarding the powers of the command.
And in Iraq in 2003, the Japanese military contingent was not officially subordinate to the leadership of the multinational forces. But in fact, the Japanese Ministry of Defense secretly ordered Japanese in the Middle East to “respect the opinions” of foreign commanders and act in full accordance with them.
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