Opinion | Columnists
Japan's 'militarisation' of space?
The 'architecture' of missile defence will continue to define the US-Japan alliance.
- By Robyn Lim, Opinion Asia
- Published: 00:03 June 11, 2008
A law that allows Japan to use space for military purposes passed Japan's parliament on May 21. This is good news because it means that Japan has taken an important step to strengthen its co-operation with the United States in missile defence. Yet Japan is still confronted by hard choices in its strategic policy.
Japan, living in a dangerous neighbourhood, will look after its nuclear security one way or another. It is vastly preferable for regional stability that Japan continue to do so under the umbrella of the US alliance rather than opt to go it alone. That choice would almost certainly lead to Japan's acquisition of nuclear weapons.
The new law was sponsored by both the ruling coalition and the largest opposition party. It will allow Japan to use its satellite network and other assets for military surveillance and early warning as part of the ballistic missile defence system being built with the US.
Ostensibly, the programme is directed against North Korea. But Japan is also worried about the military threat implied in China's space programme.
The new law will allow Japan to establish a space task force under the prime minister, as well as a new minister of space development.
According to the bill, space programmes should contribute to the "peace and safety of international society, as well as the national security of our country". Thus the new law will explicitly do away with a 1969 law that limited space programmes to peaceful purposes.
Still, seamless connectivity between Japan and the United States in missile defence remains a long way off. That's because Japan remains ambivalent about missile defence.
The Japanese want protection against Chinese and North Korean missiles, and know that they lack the resources, both technical and financial, to go it alone. Thus they understand that any effective antiballistic missile capability depends on interoperability with US forces.
Fears of entanglement
Yet Japan is wary of being just a node in a US global missile defence system. America's enemies would then become Japan's enemies as well.
The pre-emptive "Bush Doctrine" has naturally increased Japan's fears of entanglement. Moreover, current talk of US military attacks on Iran will heighten Japanese concerns. So Japan wants to ensure that it has control of its own assets.
So Japan is now confronted with the kind of hard choices that it was able to avoid during the Cold War.
But America's alignment with China in the latter days of the Cold War, and the fall of the USSR, started to erode the glue binding the US and Japan together.
Moreover, China, under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, was moving into the global economy and becoming a very different China. It is now part competitor with the US, and part collaborator. Thus it became increasingly apparent that Japan cannot now expect automatic support from the US.
That was not good news for a Japan troubled throughout the 1990s by a lagging economy and growing sense of international isolation. Thus Japan has taken steps towards greater involvement in US defence, ranging as far as the Middle East.
Moreover, Japan's new law on space meets US requirements for co-operation in missile defence. That may not guarantee Japan immunity from Chinese or even North Korean missiles. But it will help greatly in the defence of Japan and of US forces stationed there.
Thus the "architecture" of missile defence will continue to define the US-Japan alliance. While many uncertainties remain, Japan's new space law is a positive sign for regional security.
Dr Robyn Lim is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland. Full article on OpinionAsia.com
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