Han Qianwei: What is the interpretation of the new version of the Japanese defense whi

Han Qianwei

The Japanese government released the 2020 defense white paper on July 14 to explain the latest military policies and related security issues in Japan.In general, the new version of the defense white paper may be worth noting at seven o'clock, so it is shared with readers.

Since the first defense white paper was released in 1976, its cover was mostly military or geopolitical images, and its military colors were strong.However, the cover of the 2020 version of the defense white paper is pink, and the lines of Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms are briefly outlined by lines, weakening the military color.This new cover design seems to reflect the psychology of the Japanese defense leader, that is, the intention to put some gentle and peaceful coats on the growth of Japanese force, making the outside world think that the strengthening of Japanese force is forced to be forced to be forced to be forced to be forced to be forcedAnd harmless choice.

The defense white paper continues the thinking of previous years, and continues to render the surrounding threats facing Japan, emphasizing that Japan is surrounded by the gray areas of various geopolitical conflicts.Among them, not only the northern territorial issues between Japan and Russia, the problem of missile threats in North Korea, the territorial issues between Japan and South Korea, and the East China Sea issues in China and Japan.The Chinese Navy crosses the second island chain and other issues.

Obviously, the Japanese government has provided an objective motivation for its implementation of the intense surrounding trend throughout the year.And the Japanese government has extended its surrounding area to the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific.This means that in the middle and long term, the Japanese government intends to strengthen the use of the Self -Defense Force in both strength and geography.

From the perspective of the Japanese Self -Defense Force's police and surveillance trends, it is mainly to respond to the situation in China, Russia, and North Korea.In addition, with the deterioration of Japanese and Korean relations in recent years, Japan and South Korea's defense cooperation has also weakened significantly.In particular, the defensive white paper continued to render the theory of threat of China, and believed that China was committed to forming the world's strongest army in the middle of this century.To this end, the defensive white paper lists the opaque Chinese military power, the rapid growth of military expenses, the development of sea and air forces, and frequently crossing the first island chain, and carried out ocean exercises.

In this regard, it should be clearly realized that although Sino -Japanese relations are important and have shown a trend in recent years, they should not forget that in the field of traditional security, Japan is obviously still in China.Russia and North Korea.The improvement, in -depth and stability of Sino -Japanese relations always face the challenges of the security and historical issues of the two countries.This problem has not been solved so far.

The defense white paper continues to emphasize new challenges from three fields such as space, network, and electromagnetic waves.In order to cope with such new challenges, the defense white paper advocates that the Japanese Self -Defense Force should combine the traditional land, sea and air fields with the new space, network, and electromagnetic wave fields to carry out joint operations in many fields.

Next, the Japanese Self -Defense Force will strengthen its new space combat capabilities from various aspects such as technology research and development, equipment use, talent training, and institutional establishment.It is conceivable that the Japanese Self -Defense Force, this related cosmic team, network defense, and electronic warfare forces will be further strengthened.The strengthening of the new combat power of Japan and the possibility of the US military will have a continuous attention to what impact it will have on East Asia's security.

The defense white paper clearly regards Japan's own defense forces, the United States and Japan alliances, and the multilateral security system, and is regarded as the third pillar of Japan's defense.There are two points or attention here.

I. The United States and Japan Alliances are still the core of Japan's diplomacy and security. The alliances of the two countries will not shake, but they will make further adjustments in responding to the new situation in East Asia.In general, the Japanese Self -Defense Force will play a more active and greater role under the alliance system.However, the differences between the US and Japanese governments around the US military in Japan and the social problems of the base may continue.This has had a certain impact on US -Japanese relations and Japanese diplomacy.In the case of difficulties in Sino -US relations, China should particularly pay attention to the various possible trends of US -Japan relations.

2. When the Japanese government seeks a multilateral security system, it continues to emphasize its free Indo -Pacific Vision and its three principles.The Japanese government hits the intermediary with Southeast Asia, communicates the two major regions of the Pacific Ocean and the Rings Indian Ocean, and strengthens the exchanges and cooperation between the Self -Defense Force and the country in the region.

From the perspective of China, we should pay attention to three issues: what is the relationship between the situation in the South China Sea; what is the relationship between the development of the Belt and Road Initiative; what does it have to do with the Indo -Pacific strategy in the United States and India?intention.

The basic judgment of the defense white paper on the three major countries of China, the United States and Russia is that in terms of security issues, the United States regards China and Russia as its main strategic competitors, while China is placed in the first priority of the United States.In order to enhance China's curiosity, the United States has paid more attention to strategic security in the Indo -Pacific region. At the same time, as a strategic tradition of Europe and the United States, the United States and NATO still attach importance to Russia in Europe.Although China and Russia have clearly denied alliance relations, the collaborative relationship between the two countries is obviously gradually strengthening.In this situation, Japan is facing a strategic problem of how to balance the coordination of the United States and Japan and China and Japan.

The defense white paper specifically mentioned the impact of the coronary virus epidemic on the Self -Defense Force and how the Self -Defense Force participated in the Japanese epidemic prevention work.From this view, the army is not isolated from society and existed in vacuum.Epidemic prevention has an important impact on military strength. It is not necessary to take history as an example. The problem of collective infection of U.S. aircraft carriers and overseas bases has clearly stated this point.Not only that, how the army exerts its advantages in scientific research, manpower, organization, resources, and reputation to effectively participate in social epidemic prevention is a problem that countries must consider carefully.At the same time, the army must also consider the issue of epidemic prevention in terms of combat reserve on weekdays.

In general, through the new version of the defense white paper, the Chinese side responded to the development plan of the Japanese Self -Defense Force, awareness of China, the understanding of the surrounding situation and the world strategy, and the dynamics of Japan and the United States.Treatment of Sino -Japanese relations well.

The author is a doctoral student in Tsinghua University