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U.S., Japan unveil new defense guidelines for global Japanese role

27 April 2015 18:12 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Japan and the United States unveiled new guidelines for defense cooperation on Monday, reflecting Japan's willingness to take on a more robust international role at a time of growing Chinese power and rising concerns about nuclear-armed North Korea, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The first revision to the guidelines since 1997 allows for global cooperation militarily, ranging from defense against ballistic missile, cyber and space attacks and maritime security, following a Japanese Cabinet resolution last year reinterpreting Japan's pacifist constitution to allow the exercise of the right to "collective self-defense."

The guidelines reflect a changing world and mean Japan could shoot down missiles heading toward the United States and come to the aid of third countries under attack.

A centerpiece of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s U.S. visit this week, the guidelines are part of Abe's wider signal that Japan is ready to take more responsibility for its security as China modernizes its military and flexes its muscles in Asia.

In return, the conservative Japanese leader, who is scheduled to meet U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday, has been seeking fresh assurances that America comes to Japan's aid if necessary in a clash with China.

A joint statement issued after the meeting "reconfirmed the alliance's commitment to the security of Japan," as well as Japan's sovereignty over islets in the East China Sea known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China, the subject of a bitter territorial dispute.

The surge in China's military spending since 1997, when the last U.S.-Japan defense cooperation guidelines were issued, and its more assertive stance in maritime and territorial disputes has uneased both Japan and U.S. allies in Southeast Asia.

Announced after a meeting of the U.S. and Japanese foreign and defense ministers in New York, the guidelines eliminate geographic restrictions that had largely limited joint work to the defense of Japan and the surrounding area, a senior U.S. official said.

"We will be able to do globally what we’ve been able to do in the defense of Japan and regionally," the official said, saying the new guidelines also meant Japan "can respond to attacks on third countries; not just the United States."