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Revision of Japan-U.S. defense guidelines: Clinging to “nuclear umbrella” shows contradictory stance of the A-bombed nation

by Jumpei Fujimura, Staff Writer

NEW YORK--The Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation have been updated for the first time in 18 years. The new version stipulates that Japan will continue to maintain the U.S. nuclear umbrella as stated under the previous guidelines in 1997. In light of the growing debate over the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and the rising momentum for a treaty banning nuclear arms, the updated guidelines highlight Japan’s position of clinging to the policy of nuclear deterrence despite the fact that this nation is the only country in the world to have experienced nuclear attack.

“We can announce both at home and abroad that the Japan-U.S. alliance has been further solidified, with our two nations sharing even larger responsibilities,” said an official from Japan’s foreign ministry, confidently describing the revision. He had been in the forefront of the negotiations with the United States over the guidelines for the past 18 months, since the fall of 2013.

One of the major reasons for updating the guidelines was to respond to “changes in the security environment” in Asia, such as China’s growing assertiveness at sea and North Korea’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. It can be said that in exchange for deepening cooperation and the alliance between Japan’s Self Defense Forces and the U.S. military in peacetime, the Japanese government has chosen to more strongly discourage the aggressive behavior of other countries by remaining under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. By strengthening this alliance, Japan and the United States have further deepened their ties.

On April 27, the day the Japanese and U.S. governments agreed on the updated guidelines, the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), held every five years, opened in New York. In this milestone year, which marks the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese government is participating in the conference by saying that it is the mission of Japan, the A-bombed nation, to take the lead in working toward the realization of a world without nuclear weapons.

How does the international community view Japan’s commitment to nuclear abolition on one hand, while agreeing to be protected by the nuclear weapons of an allied country on the other? The strengthening of the bilateral alliance between the two nations, both claiming to seek “a world free to nuclear weapons,” is riddled with contradiction.

(Originally published on April 28, 2015)

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