Abe pledges to boost Japan's defense capability

Thank you China, well done!!

Strong words on the anivesay by both sides over territorial issues as expected though Japan's seems tastefully moderated.

It seems that Japan can not depend on the US forever and wants proper defense capability.

Japan has to protect itself from China, because China is acting like a bully (wolf in sheep's clothing). i reaaly don't trust China.

Defending the entire country and resisting radiation - all Abe needs now is a red cape and a pair of tights.

The reason why Prime Minister Abe insists on security strategy is because the provocative acts by China can ignite anytime. You need to clarify the roles of the three organizations ( SDF, JNP and Japan Coast Guard) and strengthen collaboration among the three organizations.

wolf in sheep's cloting

I think it's more like a wolf in wolf's cloting, still a bit rag-tag perhaps but it's better to balance a threat early and not wait until it is too late.

Japan's increase in defense is more related to China's actions than Abe, he just has the balls to do what the Uas has been asking for a long time, pushed of course, by Japan's "friendly" neighbor! Good to see Japan is standing it's ground, without being aggresive, and not allowing the neighborhood bully to gradually take whatever they want just because they are bigger!**

So much for any kind of 'reset' in ties. Good thing this announcement comes after getting the bid.

Reset does not mean one-sided concessions.

These are good words from Abe. It's good that he is very clear on this subject.

I like this too:

“I will work together with countries that share the values of the rule of law and freedom of the oceans and strengthen our ties in diplomacy and security with them,” he added.

Abe having said what he has, I wonder what he has in mind.

Abe knows that the best offense is the best defense, especially when surrounded by China, Korea, and Russia. Deterrent is the best policy against the bully and those who favor the never ending of historical hatred. It takes two to tango, and for Japan it takes all of them to practice "peace" instead of just talking about it from the dark chapter of history. Modern history requires sincere interplay honestly from all parties to obtain "peace".

@OssanAmerica,

You now know the strategy of China.

China is willing to see Japan to boost Japan's defense capability, then press Japan on the history problem.

By doing this, China can boost Chinese defense capability and put Japan to the opposite aspect of China and S.korea and other nations.

My thoughts: Japan has a vast railway system throughout the country. So what they need is a Railway Based ICBM network. I would say about a 1000 missiles, each carrying multiple warheads, multiple yields, anywhere from 10 kilotons up to 10 megatons per, skirting the country on any particular day, would do the trick!

Oh.....and some sort of Space Based Missile system too! Man..I'm getting goose bumps!

A flury of provocations against our country's sovereignty? Go Mr. Lip Service! The saddest thing is, he and his bunch of loony right-wing cronies actually believe this crap. Yeah, China is being a little brat and playing cat and mouse around those specs of rock near Taiwan, but it is hardly an attack on Japan's sovereignty. Did anyone else notice there was no mention of this in the lead up to the IOC vote? Now, a few days later he is virtually declaring war on China. This clown is a two-faced liar and he will start a war with China. The Tokyo Olympics could be cancelled due to war. I hate Abe and his narrow-minded right-wing ideals.

Well Im no fan of right wing policies but I think Abe just said what he would be expected to say when he addresses his own military. Any thing else would have been very peculiar. And yes China are provoking Japan. Of course China feels it is provoked as well but mostly because of possible oil/gas rights and against their plan to control the ryukyu area for military reasons. If they would have approached the the issue in a civilized way they would have pleaded to international law in the first place, not flexing muscles (ships and threatening rhetorics). Now Japan has no choice than to expand its military capability.

OssanAmericaSep. 13, 2013 - 07:12AM JST

Thank you China, well done!!

What's China got to do with it?

It's Abe and his crackpot right wing pals who want to play with bigger toys.

@Disillusioned - Take a deep breath, and get a grip mate. This is not a Japanese 'right-wing loony' issue; in case you haven't noticed, every nation in the region is spending extra on defense because of China's hairy-chested behaviour.

Australia recently got a brand new US Marines base in northern Australia and a B-52 base is on the cards courtesy of the CCP-PLA: We are not doing this because we fear a resurgence of Japanese militarism, we are doing it because we are concerned about China under the CCP and its regional belligerence.

A loony PLA General recently 'warned' us not to support the US in the region 'if' any conflicts arose - no diplomacy, just intimidation and military bluster. Australia isn't going to kowtow to these childish bullies, and neither should Japan or any other nation in the region.

Ernest Hemingway had several poignant things to say that relate to this mismanaged nation, run now by the neo-nationalist demagogue, Abe, who pushes for war capabilities and the further militarization of Japan.

War is no longer made by simply analysed economic forces if it ever was. War is made or planned now by individual men, demagogues and dictators who play on the patriotism of their people to mislead them into a belief in the great fallacy of war when all their vaunted reforms have failed to satisfy the people they misrule.

The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.

Abe, who had reviewed a guard of honor with Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, has long agitated for a more muscular military, and has spoken openly of his desire to reinterpret rules governing its deployment to allow it to play a more active role in any possible conflict.

I'm really wondering whether the US force staying here is to protect JP people or to monitor JP extremist, latter reason seems more likely!

This is what China gets for its aggression and sabre-rattling. It is the predictable blow-back. And the more the Chinese communists threaten Japan, the more of this we will see.

How else should Japan react? How could it? Submit under Chinese rule right now, or defend their country?

Completely understandable and predictable.

It is very necessary for Japan to build up its defensive capabilities to defend itself from Chinese aggression.

Abe better get his ass in gear: Reuters is reporting today that a senior Chinese military bluntly told U.S. counterparts this week to stay out of this dispute and not let Japan "do what it pleases" about the Senkakus, and that China was determined to defend its territory, but had all along exercised restraint.

That's good news. Now, answer me this, where would the money to support a substantial and meaningful defense budget increase be coming from?

Abe played right into China's hand. These actions are indeed completely understandable and predictable by every single country and their gov't. Japan needs to increase sales tax to stop the rapidly increasing national debt. The sales tax increase won't pay off that deficit, its merely hiked to stop the increase. Japan's national debt is still the highest in the entire world by ratio.

So now, you have to bring that defense up at least to 1.5-2% to the national GDP to be somewhat meaningful and you will need to be at about 3% to be respectful. How much is that going to cost you ask?

SDF is asking for about 50 billion USD budget for 2014. That does nothing to help alleviate whatever threat Japan sees from China because 50 billion USD in Japan couldn't buy you a new set of pants.

Japan's 2012 GDP is about 5960 billion USD. Asking for about 50 billion USD for 2014 is about 0.8% of the national GDP.

In order for Japan's military spending to be somewhat meaningful, Japan will need about 2% of its national GDP on military spending which amounts to about $120 billion USD per year. If Japan want to be respectful, it will need about $180 billion or 3% of its national GDP. And that's based on a 0.9% increase in growth on Q2.

SO... after all that's said and done and the hurrays and China this and that.... Is Japan seriously about this defense crap? Is Abe putting the money on the table? If the budget is still only at $50billion, the answer is clearly no.

That is why you people should not trust everything your gov't says. Instead, you should really take a look at the numbers. Forget anything else, just the fact that you have to spend more fuel, overtime cost, maintenance, new equipment purely based on the constantly threat would be a substantial increase from years before. And if you think simply spending more money to cover the cost on these routines is enough, which is what the numbers looking like per the budget increase, then I'm afraid Abe is purely blowing up smokes and rhetoric without much substance.

Spend that $120 billion USD per year, then we got something. Otherwise, just keep on talking as usual. Its always going to be no action Japan.

This guy need to win a award for the most pledge record, he make a pledge every time he got a mic on his face.

The Chinese statement in the Reuters report is two faced. I think the primary idea is to try to use the political hole Obama and the US sank down in when Russia took the initiative on Syria. China hopes to get the US to stop any ideas about building on the islands. China doesnt want to raise the stake at the Senkaku issue right now. However the rhetorics are as headstrong as ever. Taken word by word I guess it could be read as an attempt to convince the US to stay out if China steps up the pressure and land on the islands themselves. I think Abe is aiming for a serious increase in military spending but he has to walk slow or the public opinion will change against him. I guess he is hoping for some type of actions from China.

Jeff,

That senior Chinese officer is not just any senior officer. The guy Admiral Wu Shengli is the current Commander of PLA Navy (he would be the equivalent of SECNAV), a member of the ruling Central Military Commission and a former deputy Chief of Staff of China.

Meaning he represents the PLA as one of the top decisions makers for the PLA.

source - news.usni.org

And part of that exchange is to update the USN on the increase military presence in the western Pacifics (East China Sea), as well as a substantial increase in the South China Sea. The response from US is we understood the need for such increase.

I don't think China will be continuing to exercise that restrain for too long. Its really time for Japan to substantially increase that military budget.

This is welcome news, but we really need to step up our offensive capability.

China wants increases in Japanese military expenses, then they will able to export more parts for it!!!

Beef up the offense force to the one before WWII and kill our neighbours again?

It's too bad the Japanese gov't doesn't have any money for this.

IRobinSep. 13, 2013 - 11:39AM JST @OssanAmerica, You now know the strategy of China. China is willing to see Japan to boost Japan's defense capability, then press Japan on the history problem. By doing this, China can boost Chinese defense capability and put Japan to the opposite aspect of China and S.korea >and other nations.

Your post makes no sense whatsoever. No there is no strategy here. China completely underestimated Japan because it's been a timid peace-loving nation for 70 years always concerned only bout goodwill with it's neighbors. China thought Japan would be a pushover like the Philippines and Vietnam. China has been boosting it's military capability for over 2 decades and continues to do so. It does not need any "excuse" to boost it's military capability.As for "opposite aspect" China is alone in the entire world it's position against Japan. And South Korea, despite it's relationship problems with Japan, is still a US ally and can not side with China, which supports North Korea.

yosunSep. 13, 2013 - 01:39PM JST I'm really wondering whether the US force staying here is to protect JP people or to monitor JP extremist, latter reason >seems more likely!

If you actually read US-Japan military history since 1945 you wouldn't have to wonder. The U.S. forced Japan to create the predecessor of the JSDF in 1950 and has been pressing for rearmament ever since.

Oh no worries there PM Abe. If your attacked by China, I'm sure Washington will draw a "Red Line" and back you up...Uh Not.

Yes, this is the perfect time for Tokyo to rapidly modernize their Military and get prepared to defend THEMSELVES!!

With or without help from Washington.

Honestly, "All Roads Lead To Rome" and we all know and have seen from recent events coming from Washington that if China or Russia have "Vested Interest" in an individual or region, they can and will Out Maneuver Washington because They Know who lends Washington their Money AND they know how to dance on top of Washingtons egg-covered faces, and afterwards, they'll be the ones popping open bottles of Red Wine and Vodka.

My thoughts, hopes, and prayers to Japan.

Do not mention the 'P', peace, word. It is not going to happen, at least under human governments. In fact, whenever is that they proclaim World peace and security, sudden death and destruction will come over them. Daniel.

like a 7 year old boy China started all provocations to start a war, now everyone near them are preparing to depend their countries.

Bad business for China but good business for USA who is supplying the weapons.

As long as Japan has the most powerful military force, the USA, behind them, I don't think China will ever dare to touch Japan. Communist China nowadays is too busy making money themselves and their trades with Japan and USA are far more important than settling their beefs with Japan. I think the Japanese government is better to spend extra money to fix the mess in Fukushima. It makes headlines on 'Japan Today' again.

These neighboring countries could never get together to form a grand alliance against anyone. Even with a planned increase in a budget, a resurgent Japanese military would take decades to build and would never be able to challenge China outside of mainland Japan. The U.S. can't subsidize the worlds third largest economies defense forever. Japan's spending of billions are nothing compared to the cost of the fleets, aircraft, and military personal U.S. subsidize their defense with. Do you really think Japan would spend almost nothing (1 percent GDP) on defense if U.S. didn't assure for their safety. Indirect subsidize and direct subsidize all the same.

sfjp330Sep. 14, 2013 - 03:55AM JST These neighboring countries could never get together to form a grand alliance against anyone

t's already happening.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_containment_policy

Japan has every right to spend whatever they feel like.

On a side note, your professor will throw out your note if your source are from Wikipedia.

Academics have also criticized Wikipedia for its perceived failure as a reliable source, and because Wikipedia editors ... be a reliable source of information ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia

@OssanAmerica,

I dont want to say who is stupid. First of All, the USA is not a ally that can be count on.The USA is too smart to involve in a great confliction with China, that is a blood lession of the UK that lost the first position. The USA will not do that, everyone knows about this, except Japan and some other nations. Second, I said China want to push Japan to the opposite of the national moral standarts on the topic of right wing of Japan I.e the history problem. So more military in Japan more disadvantages for Japan. China know about this, so China keep pushing on the disputes islets to make Japan keeping status of 'bad guide' status. Thrid, China never think Japan as a match in military. Japan has too many weaks like nuclear plants and too small to sustain a war with China. finally, the biggest enemy of China is the USA, but look at the USA, the USA only want China know that he is great, but never want to trigger a war with China. More military in Asia but more business communication with China proved this, after all, there is a Russia, So the USA will not trigger a war with China, let alone on the sack of ally of Japan.

in all , the war actually is in area of economy, Japan failed here already.

Sorry but the US will be very happy to support Japan in any questions such as this. WE do not desert our allies or friends, and Japan has earned the right to be considered one of the leading and most respected modern nations. China on the other hand is acting like a 19th century war lord rogue nation and deserves no such respect. Their constant bullying and aggression on this issue is very tiresome and boring. It is boring to see attempts to defend such childish actions but I can assure you that the US and all decent modern nations will support Japan in this and I am proud of Abe for taking necessary steps.

Same old topic day in day out , same outrageous claims by same old users.

Not much change, as some user here said might as well copy and paste, with no constructive debate or comment at all just the usual rant without facts.