Japan Govt to Adopt New Defense Guidelines by Year-End

Tokyo, Feb. 25 (Jiji Press)--The government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to adopt new national defense program guidelines by year-end, replacing the existing one worked out by the previous government, amid accelerating moves by China to modernize its military. The government will also scrap the Medium-Term Defense Program prepared under the current National Defense Program Guidelines adopted by the Democratic Party of Japan-led government in 2010. China's military buildup that lacks transparency and stepped-up naval activities are a "matter of common concern" in the region, Abe told a plenary session of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, or parliament, in late January, suggesting that the new defense plan would treat China as a potential enemy. The government led by Abe's Liberal Democratic Party will review the existing defense program guidelines against the backdrop of China's repeated incursions into Japanese territorial waters and a Chinese plane's violation of Japanese airspace in December, near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Beijing also claims sovereignty over the islands. The current guidelines, which include a cut of 1,000 troops in Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, have been described by the LDP as a "restructuring plan" for the Self-Defense Forces. Among its campaign pledges for the House of Representatives election in late December last year, the LDP said it would increase the personnel, equipment and budget of the SDFs to enable them to defend Japan's territorial land and sea "unyieldingly." After the end of the Cold War, the number of GSDF troops was cut in steps to 180,000, 160,000 and 155,000 under LDP administrations. Under the national budget for fiscal 2013, starting in April, the Abe government authorized the first personnel increase for the SDFs in eight years, but they will be allowed to add only 287 new staff in total. The Defense Ministry said it needs an additional 18,000 SDF personnel. It hopes the Abe administration will include the number in the new defense program guidelines. Another focal point of the new guidelines will be how the concept of "dynamic defense capability" is treated. The current guidelines adopted the concept, which emphasizes quick and flexible responses to emergency situations, instead of "fundamental defense," which calls for deploying SDF troops evenly over the country. The concept of dynamic defense "stuck in my throat," Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said at a press conference after taking up his post. Parliamentary Vice Defense Minister Masahisa Sato, a former GSDF officer, also questioned the concept, saying, "There can be no defense capacity that is not dynamic." But a senior ministry official involved in the preparation of the current guidelines stresses that moves toward dynamic defense capacity are a "common trend in the world." The concept does match the Abe administration's stance on national defense by shifting the priority of defense from Cold War strategies to the protection of Japan's southwestern territory. In fact, Onodera said recently that the description of the defense concept does not matter "as long as the force strength and equipment of the SDFs are maintained and mobilized effectively." The basic framework of the concept therefore is likely to remain in the new defense program guidelines. The government plans to prepare an interim report on the new national defense program guidelines by the end of June. END