As the Self-Defense Forces prepare to greet the 50th anniversary of their founding next month, the prime minister's advisory panel on security and defense is updating Japan's "national defense program outline."
The first revision of the outline in nine years is aimed at improving defense capabilities to deal with ballistic-missile threats and terrorism and at making more international contributions. At the same time, it should include a call to reduce the U.S. military presence concentrated on Okinawa through an overhaul of the Japan-U.S. security system as well as tackle the issue of collective self-defense.
To secure Japan's peace and security, diplomatic efforts must improve the security environment in Northeast Asia amid tensions across the Taiwan Strait and on the Korean Peninsula. As America reorganizes its global military presence, the crucial question in formulating Japan's defense program outline is how to strike a balance between the Japan-U.S. security alliance and multilateral diplomacy.