By Cheng Anqi
程安琪
The Japanese government held a National Security Council meeting in early April and concluded a new mechanism named Official Security Assistance (OSA), which allows Japan to provide military assistance to countries that share values to help strengthen their military capabilities. Many analyses and remarks point out that this move demonstrates that Japan has seriously deviated from the ban on international assistance for military purposes, and reveals Japanese right-wing forces' stubborn ambition of accelerating military normalization, which will devastatingly endanger the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific region.
4月上旬，日本政府召开国家安全保障会议，确立了一项名为“政府安全保障能力强化支援”的新制度，允许日本向“志同道合”的国家提供军事援助，帮助其提高军事能力。很多分析评论指出，此举表明日本严重背离禁止将国际援助用于军事目的的规定，暴露了日本右翼势力执意推进“军事正常化”的野心，将对亚太地区安全稳定造成严重危害。
Out of considerations of dealing with post-war relations, revitalizing the economy and improving the national image, the Japanese government established the Official Development Assistance (ODA) mechanism to assist developing countries after WWII, which eased tensions between Japan and Southeast Asian countries. Different from ODA with a non-military nature, the OSA will focus on the military fields. After the formation of this mechanism, the Japanese government may allocate dedicated foreign military assistance funds from the annual financial budgets.
二战后，日本政府出于处理战后关系、发展本国经济、改善国家形象等考虑，设立了“政府开发援助”机制，向发展中国家提供援助。该机制使日本与东南亚各国的紧张关系得到缓和。与“政府开发援助”机制的非军事属性不同，“政府安全保障能力强化支援”制度专注于军事领域。这一制度确立后，日本政府每年的财政预算中或将专门设立对外军援经费。
"Japan has long flaunted vigorously to strengthen its so-called international contribution in the security field. It can be said that this new mechanism extends the encouragement of loosening weapon export restraints during Abe's administration, and also represents the Japanese latest move to seek military deregulation." Lu Hao, director of Integrated Strategy Research Office of Institute of Japanese Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) commented that Japan is probably to further revise the "Three Principles on Defense Equipment Transfers" and its application guidelines to support the role of this new mechanism and promote normalization and facilitation of foreign military assistance.
“长期以来，日本积极标榜要在安全领域强化所谓的‘国际贡献’。这项新制度可以说是安倍时期推进放宽武器出口限制规定的延续，也是日本谋求军事松绑的最新举措。”中国社会科学院日本研究所综合战略研究室负责人卢昊表示，日本今年很可能进一步修改“防卫装备转移三原则”及其运用方针，以支持新制度发挥作用，实现对外军事援助的常态化和便利化。
"In recent years, the Japanese ruling party has been expecting to break the limitations of the Pacifist Constitution formulated after WWII, and make Japan a normal country. The establishment of this new foreign military assistance mechanism manifests that Japanese identity of a peaceful country is being continuously made a figurehead." Associate research fellow at Department for Asia-Pacific Studies, China Institute of International Relations (CIIS) Sun Wenzhu said, "The new version of National Security Strategy (NSS) publicized by Japan last year had already endorsed its expansion of defense equipment. The formation of this new mechanism will help Japan further expand the scope of its overseas military operations and also mean that the rules of the Pacifist Constitution and its "exclusively defense-oriented" strategy have a mere nominal existence.
“近年来，日本执政党一直希望突破二战后和平宪法的限制，让日本成为‘正常国家’。建立对外军援新制度，表明日本的‘和平国家’身份正在被不断架空。”中国国际问题研究院亚太研究所副研究员孙文竹说,日本去年出台的新版《国家安全保障战略》已经在为扩大防卫装备出口背书。此次确立的新制度，将帮助日本进一步扩大海外军事活动范围，这也意味着日本和平宪法的规定和“专守防卫”政策名存实亡。
According to Japanese media, Japan is planning to provide the Philippines, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Fiji with radar and satellite communication systems for surveillance of territorial waters and airspace under the framework of the OSA mechanism.
据日媒报道，在“政府安全保障能力强化支援”制度框架下，日本政府目前正在考虑向菲律宾、马来西亚、孟加拉国和斐济4国军队提供对领海和领空进行警戒监视的雷达及卫星通信系统等装备。
From the opinion of Sun, the reason why Japan chose Southeast Asian countries and Pacific island countries as the first assistance targets is that on the one hand, it expects to expand military influence and enhance military discourse power in these regions by wooing certain countries, and on the other hand, it intends to attract the strategic attentions of the US to ensure the latter to put great concerns on Asia-Pacific and US-Japanese alliance. "Japan has always cherished expects but also doubts about the security promises of the US, especially after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Japan hopes to maintain a favorable security environment by wooing surrounding countries," Lu mentioned.
在孙文竹看来，日本将东南亚国家和太平洋岛国作为首批援助对象，一方面是希望借此拉拢相关国家，提升自身区域影响力和话语权，另一方面意在吸引美国的战略注意力，确保其高度关注亚太、高度重视美日同盟关系。“对于美国的安全承诺，日本一直有所期待，但也抱有疑虑，尤其是俄乌冲突后，日本希望通过拉拢周边国家，营造有利的安全环境。”卢昊说。
The Japanese government announces that the purpose of the OSA mechanism is to achieve its vision of a "free and open Indo-Pacific". However, it will by no means bring about "freedom and openness" in the end, but actually targets weaving all types of closed and exclusive small cliques and creating regional split and confrontation. This move doesn't align with the common interest of regional countries and is not conducive to regional security and stability.
日本政府称，建立“政府安全保障能力强化支援”制度的目的，是实现“自由开放的印太”。然而，这一制度最终带来的绝不是“自由开放”，其真实目的是编织各种封闭排他的“小圈子”，制造地区分裂和对抗。日本此举不符合地区国家的共同利益，无益于地区安全与稳定。
For some time recently, the Japanese convergence with the US "Indo-Pacific Strategy" is becoming more obvious. From peddling the so-called free and open Indo-Pacific enthusiastically, interfering in the South China Sea issue, to providing military equipment to certain countries and disrupting their relations with China, Japan has become a major accomplice of the US on its containing-China policy within the Asia-Pacific. Japan which had committed war crimes in WWII should be intensely aware that only conformance with Pacifist Constitution will win acceptance and respect from the international community while following the US anti-China policy to seek military deregulation will inevitably make it repeat historical mistakes and become a peace-breaker of the Asia-Pacific. We exhort Japan not to disturb the regional stability by backwashing, otherwise, it will pay a heavy price for it.
最近一段时间，日本追随美国“印太战略”积极反华的倾向愈发明显。从积极兜售所谓“自由开放的印太”、插手南海问题，到向相关国家提供军事装备、挑拨它们与中国的关系，日本已成为美国在亚太地区遏华政策的主要帮凶。在二战中犯下战争罪行的日本应当深刻认识到，只有坚持和平宪法才能获得国际社会的接纳与尊重；紧随美国反华，借此谋求军事松绑只会重蹈历史覆辙，成为亚太和平的破坏者。奉劝日本不要做搅乱地区稳定的逆流祸水，否则终将付出沉重代价。
