TOKYO: Shigeru Ishiba, tapped to be Japan’s next prime minister, may cause diplomatic headaches for the US with proposals to revamp Tokyo’s closest alliance by locking Washington into an “Asian NATO” and stationing Japanese troops on US soil.
Ishiba, elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday (Sep 27), outlined his plan in a paper to the Hudson Institute think tank last week. He argues that the changes would deter China from using military force in Asia.
“The absence of a collective self-defence system like NATO in Asia means that wars are likely to break out because there is no obligation for mutual defence,” he wrote. Ishiba, like many Japanese politicians, has voiced concern over a surge in Chinese military activity around Japanese islands.
The NATO idea, however, has already been rejected by Washington, with Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, dismissing it as hasty.
“He’s very technical about military matters but in terms of national security diplomacy, he really hasn’t shown much chops,” said Joseph Kraft, a financial political analyst at Rorschach Advisory in Tokyo.
Ishiba, however, doubled down on his idea on Friday, telling a press conference that “the relative decline of US might” made an Asian treaty organisation necessary.
