By Wen Weiru

According to Japanese media reports, Gen. Koji Yamazaki, chief of staff of the Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), was invited to Brussels to participate in the NATO Military Committee in Chiefs of Defense Session. The chief of staff is the highest-ranking uniformed officer of JSDF. Representing Japan for the first time at a NATO military meeting has unusual symbolism.

Japan makes use of this opportunity to pander to NATO's invitation

The NATO Military Committee in Chiefs of Defense Session was held in Brussels on May 19.In addition to NATO members, Japan, ROK, Australia, and New Zealand was also invited to participate in the session on the theme of security environment and defense cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. Japan's Ministry of Defense revealed that the purpose of Yamazaki's participation this time was to discuss and reach a consensus with NATO on issues such as the security environment in the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan's dispatch of the highest-ranking uniformed officer to the meeting was not a sudden move. In recent years, under the leadership and coordination of the US, Japan has continuously strengthened its military interaction with major NATO member states. Since 2019, Japan's Ministry of Defense has dispatched staff to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence and liaison officers to the NATO Allied Maritime Command. Japan has established a "2+2" meeting mechanism with major NATO member states such as the UK, France, and Germany, in which foreign ministers and defense ministers participated, frequently expressed their positions on issues such as Asia-Pacific security and regional disputes and attracted many countries to stand for Japan.

In addition, Japan has continued to strengthen cooperation with the UK, France and other countries at specific levels such as joint weapons research and development and joint military exercises. Recently, Japan's Ministry of Defense also announced that it will participate in the multilateral military exercise hosted by France in the South Pacific region for the first time. There are various signs that Japan has crossed continents and moved closer to NATO with a more active attitude, becoming an active caterer of NATO's "Eastward Crossing" to the Asia-Pacific.

Japan takes the opportunity to achieve multiple strategic goals

Japan's move makes people wonder if it is moving out of Asia and reaching for Europe, again. The analysis believes that under the realistic background of the continuing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the US has gradually abandoned the idea of gathering ROK, Japan, India, Australia and other countries to form the so-called "Asia-Pacific version of NATO". Instead, the US is inclined to directly expand NATO to the Asia-Pacific region, use the NATO framework to attract countries to join it, to realize the global expansion of NATO's military radiation.

As the "northern anchorage" of the US in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan has territorial disputes with Russia and other countries, historical and realistic disputes with DPRK, and is in the so-called first island chain. These had made it the "bridgehead" for countries outside the region to take the opportunity to intervene in security affairs in the Asia-Pacific region. The US hopes that Japan will become a "model" for Asia-Pacific countries to enter the NATO system.

In fact, from Japan's point of view, joining NATO is not a top priority, and actively catering to it is just intended to seek more strategic interests. On the one hand, Japan wants to take the opportunity to get rid of the shackles of its status as a defeated country and realize its militarization. For a long time, Japan has been actively adjusting its military strategic layout and building offensive combat capabilities even under the supervision of the international community. On the other hand, Japan wants to use external force to check and balance Russia. Recently, Japan has stepped up sanctions against Russia, and has also changed its expression of the so-called "Northern Territories". Japan claimed that it will revise the National Security Strategy, use NATO power to check and balance Russia's influence in the Far East and gain more chips to territorial disputes.

It should be seen that in the context of security commitments based on the US-Japan military alliance, Japan has no urgent need to rely on and join NATO. Once Japan joins NATO, the risk of its involvement in war will rise sharply. The Japanese government will face enormous pressure from domestic peace forces by then. However, it cannot be ignored that as a "partner country" of NATO, Japan continues to introduce NATO forces into the Asia-Pacific region to disrupt the situation, which brings risks and challenges to the regional security landscape.