Observatory Institution of the US Military Alliance (Japan)
1. DPRK missile
In April 2023, North Korea launched a missile, and emergency alerts went off on TV and cell phones in Japan. It stirs up fear of North Korea among the Japanese people.
North Korea’s missile launches have a defensive purpose against the U.S.-South Korea-Japan military alliance, and though it is just a missile test, the alerts sound as if an attack to Japan is imminent. It only incites people to feel fear and hatred toward North Korea.
Meanwhile, there are no media coverage about the root cause of the missile launches: It is the U.S.-South Korean military exercise and alliance and the US refusal to negotiate with the North. No missile launch tests were conducted when President Trump negotiated with North Korea.
However, after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol took office and took a hard-line policy, U.S.-South Korean military exercises increased. And he visited to the US in April and ask the US to defend South Korea with even the nuclear weapons. It also constitutes a threat to North Korea.
The US, Japan and South Korea are using the North Korea missile launches as an excuse to build up their military power against North Korea and China.
2. Taiwan contingency
Regarding the situation in Taiwan, similar move has taken place. Japanese government stirs up the threat of China’s invasion of Taiwan. Japan’s government is constructing missile sites in South West islands close to Taiwan. Enhanced missiles system is a threat to China.
The government is strengthening the capability of enemy-base attack and will double its military budget over the next five years. This militarization is against its policy of exclusive defense by Article 9 of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, the US and their allies express their commitment to the “One China” policy, but we can see their military support to Taiwan.
The meeting in April 2023 between Taiwan President Tsai and the US House Speaker, McCarthy invited the anger of China. It is a provocation to China. The sale of arms by the US to Taiwan is also the same. Any attempt to defense Taiwan by other countries constitutes interference in China’s internal affairs.
The US intervention was also the catalyst for the Ukrainian war: the US-NATO provocations against Russia have been building up over the years, including NATO’s expansion moves to Ukraine, the US intervention in the Maidan coup, and the use of neo-Nazis to attack the Russian population.
The Taiwan contingency scenario presented by CSIS, a US think tank, details joint military action by the US, Japan, and Taiwan in the event of China invades Taiwan. But Taiwan is not an independent nation recognized by UN and most of international community, so the Taiwan’s request to the US for collective defense does not constitute collective self-defense under the UN Charter article 51. So the interference of the US in Taiwan contingency is against the UN Charter.
The US also made an agreement with the Philippines government to use four new military bases for the event of a Taiwan contingency. They are located in the Norther part of the Philippines close to Taiwan. It was based on EDCA and mutual defense treaty. This move is also a threat to China.
3. Ukraine war
On the Ukraine war, the G7 foreign ministers gathered in Japan in April 16 to 18th and confirmed to continue the economic sanctions against Russia and military support for Ukraine.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has also recently spoken of arms aid to Ukraine. The Japanese government is also moving to provide with arms aid.
However, this is only a small part in the global level. Many of the Global South countries are not participating in economic sanctions against Russia; the G7 has confirmed its outreach to India, but the G20, BRICS, and other emerging countries are distinct from the Western countries, and many of them are advocating a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. The US and its European allies continue to provide arms to Ukraine. It only benefits the military industry in the US. However, the escalation of the war leads to nuclear war, which would deprive the lives of many civilians and personnel. We call for a ceasefire as soon as possible.
4. Anti US Imperialism movement in East Asia
The anti-military alliance movement is weak in East Asia. To certainly, there are anti-U.S. military base movements in Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. Although U.S. military bases are a bastion of U.S. domination in Asia, the anti-U.S. military base struggle does not necessarily mean anti-military alliance movement. In Okinawa, the anti-U.S. military base movement is strong, and the governor of Okinawa Prefecture opposes the new base at Henoko, but he is in favor of the Japan-U.S. alliance.
The anti-U.S. military base struggle is framed on the grounds of harm to residents and inequality with the US. However, the anti-military alliance movement is a question about the international order to lead to the confrontation of military block between West and China, Russia, North Korea. Eliminating military alliances is the most crucial movement to prevent military tensions and conflicts and to maintain peace. This is also consistent with the concept of the UN Charter.
The U.S.-Japan-South Korea military alliance is a manifestation of U.S. domination of Asia, but I think the Japanese peace movement has a particularly weak perspective from the perspective of U.S. domination of Asia. The current peace movement in Japan is based on the premise of the Japan-U.S. alliance and expects the U.S. to protect it to some extent. The reason for this is that anti-China, anti-Russia, and anti-North Korea media are propagated daily in Japan and are deeply rooted in society. For this reason, the Japanese Communist Party has not emphasized much on the slogan of the Abolition of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in order to increase its seats in the parliamentary elections.
However, I fear that if this trend continues, the Japan-U.S. alliance system will become deeply rooted in Japanese society, and it will become more and more difficult to disengage from the Japan-U.S. alliance. We need to grow the anti-U.S. imperialist movement in Japan and Asia as well.
In South Korea, too, there is a fundamental contradiction in trying to achieve unification of North and South Korea while maintaining a hostile military alliance. President Moon once advocated a North-South peace treaty. However, this could not be achieved because it maintained the U.S.-Korea alliance.
5. Lessons Learned from the U.S. Destruction of the Natural Gas Pipeline Between Russia and Germany
In September 2022, Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany, was destroyed; in February 2023, U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh published an investigative article claiming that the United States was involved in the destruction. It was suggested that this was a plot by the U.S. to draw Germany away from its economic dependence on Russia. There is also an internal leaked article from the RAND Corporation, a US think tank, which corroborates the story. The plot is that the U.S. will start a war in Ukraine to separate Germany, a member of NATO, from Russia by putting it in a position where it will have no choice but to confront Russia.
Applying this to the Asian case, the U.S. could use the Taiwan contingency to escalate the confrontation and even launch a war in Taiwan if Japan and South Korea develop closer economic ties with China, in order to draw Japan and South Korea away from China. South Korea produces its semiconductors in China, and China is the largest trading partner for Japan as well. The lesson from Ukraine is that when allies move economically closer to China, the U.S. will try to destroy that relationship. Such attempts are extremely dangerous.
