50 years of Japan-U.S. Alliance

Japan Press Weekly

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50 years of Japan-U.S. Alliance
Mechanism of US privileges - Part VI

Nothing to do with defense of Japan

Article 6 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty stipulates that the U.S. military can use land, air, and naval facilities in Japan for the purpose of contributing to the “security of Japan” and the “maintenance of international peace and security in the Far East.” However, the U.S. military has used them for other purposes, including military missions and interventions abroad, based on its global strategy.

Anticommunist stronghold

After the war, at first, the United States did not intend to use Japan as its forward military base. It was March 1947 when the U.S. administration changed its policy towards Japan with the rise of such anticommunist strategies as the Truman Doctrine (March 12, 1947).

The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in a National Security Agency report (June 9, 1949) stated, “The Japanese Islands are of high strategic importance to United States security interests.” The report points out Japan’s geographic advantages, describing that it provides “the exit and entrances to the Sea of Japan, the East China and Yellow Seas, and, to a lesser degree, the ports of Asia north of the Shanghai-Woosung area, inclusive.” The report, thus, proposes that bilateral talks on the right to use bases in Japan not be excluded.

The United States wanted to outwit the Soviet Union and China during the postwar period by using both diplomatic tactics using Japan as its anticommunist military stronghold.

In December 1957, a report to the president by Frank Nash, “United States Overseas Military Bases” pointed out, “Japan constitutes the northern anchor of the offshore island chain and provides important US military bases in close proximity to the sources of Sino-Soviet power in the Far East. The bulk of our tactical air strength in Asia is still based in Japan; we operate extensive repair and maintenance there for land and naval forces; and the logistical support for US commitments in Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia is still dependent in large measure upon Japanese bases.” The report emphasized the value of U.S. military bases in Japan as a U.S. strongpoint while having its sights on Asia.

Imaginariness

Japan was used, throughout the postwar period, as a U.S. staging point for the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and other U.S.-USSR confrontations.

The National Security Study Memorandum NSSM 5 (April 28, 1969) bluntly stated, “No major US unit is directly concerned with the defense of Japan as a primary mission.” It candidly stated that the continuation of Japan-U.S. Security Treaty relies on the “Japan’s protection” premise.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Command History of U.S. Pacific Forces unapologetically said: “The primary mission of U.S. forces based in Japan since the end of World War II had been to contain the Soviet Union.” It goes on to say that the end of the cold war, however, “did not decrease the geostrategic importance of the Japan-based forces.” and that U.S. forces in Japan “were available to support contingency operations elsewhere in the USPACOM.”

U.S. Forces at present can be deployed on short notice to anywhere they want worldwide. In that sense, Japan’s geographical advantage seems to be no longer meaningful for the United States. However, an expert in Japan-U.S. relations said, “U.S. military bases in Japan used to be and are still a strongpoint for U.S. global strategy. During the Cold War era, Japan was geographically important only because Japan is situated close to Vietnam and the Soviet Union.”

(To be continued)