Japan eyes thorough review of defense after missile plan suspended

China is intent on establishing regional dominance at the expense of all of it's neighbors

Not just regional! Global!

They already have Europe on their knees begging for trinkets.

Here's an example. 'Conformite Europenne' (the CE) logo denoting compliance with European safety and performance standard would be defended to the teeth if it was exploited or diminished by any country, EXCEPT China.

China has been exporting non conforming products to the EU but using the 'China Export' (the C E) logo without hesitation, because they know the calibration of their thuggery won't be meet with retribution.

https://support.ce-check.eu/hc/en-us/articles/360008642600-How-To-Distinguish-A-Real-CE-Mark-From-A-Fake-Chinese-Export-Mark

Alex none of that actually effects Japan. South Korea has its issues...Japan can stand alone and not worry. Take the anger away just don't get involved. Let other countries butt heads.

This ^ is entirely unrealistic. CCP China is a thieving thug, they don't care if you're neutral or not, they will calibrate and take. Like a thug walking down the street don't care, they won't rob a security guard, but they'll have no qualms robbing a defenseless (neutral) bystander.

CCP China has got form too, they'll use proxies eg NK, and other adversaries eg Pakistan to achieve their goals against you. Would you like to guess how NK and Pakistan got their nukes? Or Iran?

What I meant to say is that Sweden and Switzerland, famously neutral countries, spend more per capita on their militaries than most non-neutral countries, including Japan.

As long as just the first paragraph of Article 9 which renounces the use of war remains, Japan should be armed to the teeth. First thing to do is eliminate the second paragraph so that the existence of the JSDF doesn't remain a constututional contradiction.

The post WWII peace bubble that Japan has lived in is over. China is intent on establishing regional dominance at the expense of all of it's neighbors. North Korea is anyone's guess. Russia under Putin continues to work against western democracies. It may take years for the United States to regain it's posture after a devastating 4 years under the current administration.

Given that Japan has unstable nuclear armed neighbors, in North Korea and Russia, it makes perfect sense for Japan to give very serious thought to how it can protect itself. Besides various means of defense, such as anti-missile systems, Japan may have to consider the need to arm itself with nuclear weapons.

As for becoming a neutral country, Sweden, with fewer than 10 million people, will spend over 5 and 1/2 billion USD for defense this year. Switzerland, with a population of less than 9 million, will spend about 4.8 billion USD on its military. Japan, with about 127 million people, will have a military budget of 47 billion USD this year. Doing the math, neutral countries spend more on defense than Japan currently does.

North Korea is also aggressive. Blowing up a peace building which was supposed to be a sign of progress with S. Korea.

Russia took Crimea back by force, still has Japanese Islands, we never signed a peace treaty.

South Korea going back on agreements signed, going back on intelligence pact with Japan, using their radars in aggressive way towards SDF planes.

It's never been more of a dangerous time for Japan then now in 2020.

Be like Germany, even they have a normal military again. No article 9 keeping the Germans behind and weak.

Macv:

Would you care to post the scans here, as pdf preferably? Not really available online. Thank you.

Japan is in a difficult position with three overtly militaristic countries in easy missile range, all three heavily armed with offensive weapons well able to strike the Japanese islands. The cost benefit of the cancelled system is questionable given its limited capacity and even NK capable of overwhelming it with multiple missile launches.

Sometimes the only defence available is to knock out the launch capability before it is used, but that can be a very dangerous game to play, especially with enemies having strength in depth. It might work against NK but would undoubtedly fail against China and Russia (as it did against the USA).

Akie, try telling that to the aggressive, militarist, expansionist CCP mafia in Beijing.

The ostrich puts its head in the sand, thinking that no one can see it, if it can not see anyone else. Thinking that no one will take Japan's freedom and wealth away from it if they think they are militarily able to, reminds me of the ostrich. Good luck with that way of thinking.

China has been exporting non conforming products to the EU but using the 'China Export' (the C E) logo without hesitation

This has been described as an urban myth in various places.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking#China_Export

Thought you were including south Korea too :) militaristic, but daddy (US) would break up the fight between the kids (Japan and south korea).

Japan in my view (and I know people don't like it ) should declare itself universally neutral. Get the Americans to leave, And focus on itself. Could be an amazingly happy country if given a chance.

Alex none of that actually effects Japan. South Korea has its issues...Japan can stand alone and not worry. Take the anger away just don't get involved. Let other countries butt heads.

Stop giving tax money for American bases that could possibly are being used for war crimes, (if the ICC can make its report.)

use the money and land for equipment that could also be used in natural disasters.

@AlexBecu Be like Germany, even they have a normal military again. No article 9 keeping the Germans behind and weak.

Schools in Germany educate students daily about the horrors of the holocaust, their infamous past, so it will not be forgotten and repeated. Do Japanese schools teach the same about its past? No. I visited high schools in Tokyo photocopied relevant portion of their texts, all contained only a few vague sentences.

Another example of how incompetent the j gov is. You should have done the review first before backflipping on your decisions. Pathetic.

The best defense is inoffensive. Making love is much better than making trouble, as simple as that.