Facing China’s rapid military expansion, Japan can no longer ensure its security alone.
By deepening military cooperation with the United States and strengthening its own defense capabilities, Japan can deter conflict and preserve stability in East Asia.

2017-06-19
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
U.S.–Japan military cooperation against China.
One reason Prime Minister Abe has proceeded cautiously in relations with the United States is the issue of China.
China has been continuing its military expansion at a furious pace.
Until a little more than a decade ago, it was said that the Self-Defense Forces possessed far superior military strength.
However, at present, it is impossible for Japan to fight China on its own.
Even the U.S. military alone might find it difficult.
In 1996, when former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui conducted the first direct presidential election, China attempted to intimidate Taiwan by launching missile tests in its direction.
When the United States responded by dispatching two aircraft carriers to the Taiwan Strait, China concluded that it could not prevail and withdrew its threat.
Today, however, it is doubtful whether such intimidation would still be effective.
Prime Minister Abe, however, made it possible to exercise the right of collective self-defense.
This is an extremely important development.
If Japan and the United States join hands militarily through the exercise of collective self-defense, even China would be unable to act.
As is clear upon reflection, seventy years ago only Japan and the United States possessed mobile naval task forces.
Neither Germany nor the Soviet Union had aircraft carriers.
Britain had aircraft carriers, but it could not form mobile task forces.
The naval power of Japan and the United States was overwhelming.
If those two nations were to join forces, no matter how frantically China pursued military expansion, it would be unable to compete.
By doing so, war can be avoided, deterrence maintained, and patience exercised.
In time, the Chinese Communist Party may collapse, or, if things go well, China may become a country that holds general elections.
In any country, once general elections are held, it becomes impossible to wage war at the present stage.
It is true that current U.S.–China relations are bound by economic interests.
During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, there were no economic or trade relations between the two, making the structure very easy to understand.
Diplomat George Kennan led the “containment strategy” against the Soviet Union and communism, and the arms race escalated between the two powers.
Eventually, the Soviet Union could no longer keep up and collapsed.
Because American capital has deeply penetrated China, the situation is not as simple as during the Cold War.
Nevertheless, as a conceptual approach, adopting Kennan’s way of thinking is sufficient.
Until the level of civic maturity in China rises and an era arrives in which general elections are held, Japan must increase defense spending when necessary, strengthen its military capabilities, and wait while Japan and the United States jointly contain China.
For that purpose, it is essential to maintain good U.S.–Japan relations.
Japan’s future can be said to depend on its diplomacy toward the United States and the strengthening of its self-defense capabilities.
Although Prime Minister Abe has thus far prioritized economic policy, in April, marking seventy years since the end of the war, he delivered a forty-five-minute address to a joint meeting of both houses of the U.S. Congress.
He will now likely begin in earnest to reform the postwar framework, including U.S.–Japan relations.