By Sriram Ramakrishnan
More than two decades ago in 1989 to be exact, Japanese authors Shintaro Ishihara and Akio Morita created a furore with their essay, `The Japan that can say no: why Japan will be first among equals’. Among other things, the authors argued that Japan’s technological superiority and manufacturing competitiveness gives it a definite edge over American rivals; American products are inferior because the quality of its workforce is poor, the essay said. Japan should come out of America’s shadow and follow its own foreign policy and Japanese should be more assertive when dealing with America, the authors added.
The furore when it happened, was widespread. Akio Morita, incidentally, the co-founder and chairman of Sony Corp did not include his comments in 1991 English translation published by Simon & Schuster. Many in America were angered by comments on American product quality and technological inferiority especially as it came at a time their economy was slipping into a downturn that would eventually cost George HW Bush his presidency. The controversy and Bush’s ill-fated trip to Japan in 1991 did not do lasting damage to Japanese-American relations though Japan continued to remain under America’s security and defence umbrella and Ishihara’s prognosis of uncontested Japanese superiority stretching into the horizon suffered due to that country’s deflationary spiral in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century.
Today, Ishihara’s essay is considered an important milestone in the evolution of Japanese self-image after the humiliation of world war II. An image that has taken a beating in recent years but which Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is willing to restore by his Abenomics.
The focus of much commentary and analysis in the past few years has been on economic and monetary policy but a revolutionary change in happening in defence and military policy as well. On July 1, Japan amended its pacifist constitution giving more powers to the military to defend the country and also help other countries when they are beset by territorial risks. The earlier American-drafted constitution had relegated the Japanese military to a largely self defence role and the revision now means Japanese forces will play a more important and forceful role in guarding frontiers and protecting neighbours and friendly countries from aggression.
On Friday, August 29, a few hours before Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was to land in Kyoto, the Japanese defence ministry followed through on the July amendment by asking for a record defence budget. The $48 bln budget for the year beginning April 2015 will be used to buy radar-evading F-35 stealth aircraft, Aegis radar-equipped destroyers, surveillance aircraft and global hawk drones. Abe’s Japan is putting money where its mouth is.
Now, all this has a lot of implications for India. A stronger, assertive and well-equipped Japan is needed to maintain regional stability and bolster US efforts at keeping China at bay. India, like Japan, has an ongoing territorial dispute with China, one which shows no signs of resolution despite more than three decades of debates, discussion and ministerial meetings. The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government handled China with kid gloves with a prominent minister comparing Chinese PLA incursions to acne. The UPA government often gave the impression of preferring endless talks without any tangible outcomes and one hopes that the Modi government’s approach will be different. This Japan trip is actually a golden opportunity for prime minister Modi to cement a closer defence and military cooperation with India’s best Asian friend.
Media reports and opinion about the visit have centred exclusively on economic issues with civil nuclear deals, infrastructure investment dominating the discussion, but there is no reason to downplay the role of military and defence cooperation especially in the context of China. Japan’s ongoing dispute over the East China Sea island (called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China) could well determine geopolitics in that part of the world, while resolution of India’s dispute over the Himalayan frontier with its giant northerly neighbour is crucial to south Asian regional security.
China has used divide and division among the Asian bloc and the US’ increasing domestic problems to try and settle the issues on its own terms. It has needled all the countries with which it has disputes with aggressive and often intrusive patrolling. The Chinese strategy appears to be to get its rivals to the negotiating table by putting them on the defensive and then getting them to agree to its terms by often highlighting the high cost of non-cooperation.
Such a strategy cannot be defeated through military means but only through deft diplomacy. War is often not a solution to tackle aggressive countries and China’s psychological warfare can be blunted through regional cooperation and solidarity between the affected countries.
Modi has an excellent chance to use this trip to discuss a military alliance with Abe. This will not be aimed at grabbing territory or invading any country. Its purpose is not to start a second Indo-China war. But by getting countries affected by Chinese aggression into one camp, this alliance will send a strong message to Beijing that its territorial aggression will not be tolerated. By selling arms to each other, it will attempt to deter Chinese aggression and blunt its diplomatic edge through close cooperation in international forums.
A few days before Mr Modi’s visit to Japan, Sushma Swaraj, the external affairs minister visited Vietnam and the two countries agreed to deepen existing defence cooperation. Vietnam also agreed to renew leases on two oil blocks given to ONGC Videsh, a move widely expected to annoy China. Japan is also considering supplying patrol boats to the Philippines, one of the countries affected by Chinese claims on the South China Sea now that its constitution has been amended.
In a limited way, some kind of cooperation is already happening between countries affected by Chinese claims and demands. Abe has shown that he is no pushover and is willing to stand upto China. Modi is made of similar stuff. It is time for these leaders to send a message to Beijing that they will not be rolled over and that geopolitics in Asia will not be dominated Chinese imperialism.
More than two decades ago in 1989 to be exact, Japanese authors Shintaro Ishihara and Akio Morita created a furore with their essay, `The Japan that can say no: why Japan will be first among equals’. Among other things, the authors argued that Japan’s technological superiority and manufacturing competitiveness gives it a definite edge over American rivals; American products are inferior because the quality of its workforce is poor, the essay said. Japan should come out of America’s shadow and follow its own foreign policy and Japanese should be more assertive when dealing with America, the authors added.
The furore when it happened, was widespread. Akio Morita, incidentally, the co-founder and chairman of Sony Corp did not include his comments in 1991 English translation published by Simon & Schuster. Many in America were angered by comments on American product quality and technological inferiority especially as it came at a time their economy was slipping into a downturn that would eventually cost George HW Bush his presidency. The controversy and Bush’s ill-fated trip to Japan in 1991 did not do lasting damage to Japanese-American relations though Japan continued to remain under America’s security and defence umbrella and Ishihara’s prognosis of uncontested Japanese superiority stretching into the horizon suffered due to that country’s deflationary spiral in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century.
Today, Ishihara’s essay is considered an important milestone in the evolution of Japanese self-image after the humiliation of world war II. An image that has taken a beating in recent years but which Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is willing to restore by his Abenomics.
The focus of much commentary and analysis in the past few years has been on economic and monetary policy but a revolutionary change in happening in defence and military policy as well. On July 1, Japan amended its pacifist constitution giving more powers to the military to defend the country and also help other countries when they are beset by territorial risks. The earlier American-drafted constitution had relegated the Japanese military to a largely self defence role and the revision now means Japanese forces will play a more important and forceful role in guarding frontiers and protecting neighbours and friendly countries from aggression.
On Friday, August 29, a few hours before Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was to land in Kyoto, the Japanese defence ministry followed through on the July amendment by asking for a record defence budget. The $48 bln budget for the year beginning April 2015 will be used to buy radar-evading F-35 stealth aircraft, Aegis radar-equipped destroyers, surveillance aircraft and global hawk drones. Abe’s Japan is putting money where its mouth is.
Now, all this has a lot of implications for India. A stronger, assertive and well-equipped Japan is needed to maintain regional stability and bolster US efforts at keeping China at bay. India, like Japan, has an ongoing territorial dispute with China, one which shows no signs of resolution despite more than three decades of debates, discussion and ministerial meetings. The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government handled China with kid gloves with a prominent minister comparing Chinese PLA incursions to acne. The UPA government often gave the impression of preferring endless talks without any tangible outcomes and one hopes that the Modi government’s approach will be different. This Japan trip is actually a golden opportunity for prime minister Modi to cement a closer defence and military cooperation with India’s best Asian friend.
Media reports and opinion about the visit have centred exclusively on economic issues with civil nuclear deals, infrastructure investment dominating the discussion, but there is no reason to downplay the role of military and defence cooperation especially in the context of China. Japan’s ongoing dispute over the East China Sea island (called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China) could well determine geopolitics in that part of the world, while resolution of India’s dispute over the Himalayan frontier with its giant northerly neighbour is crucial to south Asian regional security.
China has used divide and division among the Asian bloc and the US’ increasing domestic problems to try and settle the issues on its own terms. It has needled all the countries with which it has disputes with aggressive and often intrusive patrolling. The Chinese strategy appears to be to get its rivals to the negotiating table by putting them on the defensive and then getting them to agree to its terms by often highlighting the high cost of non-cooperation.
Such a strategy cannot be defeated through military means but only through deft diplomacy. War is often not a solution to tackle aggressive countries and China’s psychological warfare can be blunted through regional cooperation and solidarity between the affected countries.
Modi has an excellent chance to use this trip to discuss a military alliance with Abe. This will not be aimed at grabbing territory or invading any country. Its purpose is not to start a second Indo-China war. But by getting countries affected by Chinese aggression into one camp, this alliance will send a strong message to Beijing that its territorial aggression will not be tolerated. By selling arms to each other, it will attempt to deter Chinese aggression and blunt its diplomatic edge through close cooperation in international forums.
A few days before Mr Modi’s visit to Japan, Sushma Swaraj, the external affairs minister visited Vietnam and the two countries agreed to deepen existing defence cooperation. Vietnam also agreed to renew leases on two oil blocks given to ONGC Videsh, a move widely expected to annoy China. Japan is also considering supplying patrol boats to the Philippines, one of the countries affected by Chinese claims on the South China Sea now that its constitution has been amended.
In a limited way, some kind of cooperation is already happening between countries affected by Chinese claims and demands. Abe has shown that he is no pushover and is willing to stand upto China. Modi is made of similar stuff. It is time for these leaders to send a message to Beijing that they will not be rolled over and that geopolitics in Asia will not be dominated Chinese imperialism.
( Originally published on Aug 30, 2014 )
