The Historical Evolution Of Japan’s Security Policy In The Cold War Era

In the Cold War era,Japan?s security policy showed “four types of transformation”,including the transformation from complete disarmament to rearming,from establishing “pacifist constitution” to breaking the constitution,from the role of a “little partner” of Japan-America ally to becoming the member of western groups and from the role of “defeated country” to becoming the “important role” on the international platform.These transformation were taken placed during four developing periods,that is,the period of reorienting,reformulating,redeveloping and the great nationalization of its security policy.The period of reorienting the security policy was from 1945 to 1951.After its defeat in 1945,Japan accepted the renovation promoted by US occupying authorities,establishing “pacifist constitution” and formulating the basic principles of Japanese security policy under the framework of “pacifist constitution”,including “symbolic emperor system”,Article Nine,purely defensive defense and the prevention of collective right of self-defense and other restrictive rules.Those rules,constraining the way of Japan?s security policy,forced Japan to develop toward peace.However,with the Korean War and the Cold War coming on,America indulged Japanese conservative forces and promoted “rearming” to realize the goal of rearmament.In September 1951,according to the reconciled alliance,Japan and US signed “Japan-US Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security”.Since then,“pacifist constitution” and “Japan-US Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security” have become the two major routes for the development of post-war Japanese security orientation.From the reorienting process of Japanese security during occupying period,it was clear that US occupying authorities,based on the need of hegemony strategy,adopted conflicting renovation policies toward Japan.On the one hand,America established the “pacifist constitution” to prevent the resurgence of Japanese militarism;on the other hand,America signed the “Japan-US Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security” to promote the rearmament of Japan.At the same time,the establishment of the armed forces with the civil officials commanding and supervising the “old soldier,old thoughts and old forces” laid the foundation of the original model of Japan?s security policy,which seemed to be putting new wine into old bottles.Such kind of distorted and contradictory structure became the key to understand the historical evolution of Japan?s security policy during the Cold War era.The period of “reformulating” the security policy was from 1952 to 1960.During this period,Japan has experienced four cabinets: Shigeru Yoshida,Ichiro Hatoyama,Tanzan Ishibashi and Kishi Nobusuke.Among them,the “Gradually increasing defensive force route ”,put forward by Yoshida Shigern,exerted deep influence on post-war Japanese security policy.Besides,the initial institutionalization constructions of Japan?s security policy,such as“National Defense Conference” and ”Six-year Defense Plan” proposed by Ichiro Hatoyama,and “Basic Principle of National Defense ” and “The First Defense Force Organizing and Outfitting Plan” proposed by Kishi Nobusuke,were finished during this period.With the signing of the new “Japan-US Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security” in 1960,the unequal Japan-US security relation was amended and the alliance system was further strengthened.The redeveloping period of the security policy was from 1960 to 1975.During this period,Japan has experienced three cabinets: Ikeda Hayato,Sato Ichiro and Tanaka Kakuei.In 1965,Treaty on Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of Korea was signed so that the trilateral collective security cooperation relations between America,Japan and the Republic of Korea were strengthened.1n 1968,Japan became the world second economic power and the "Self-defense Theory" became the main feature of Japan’s security policy.In 1972,the executive power of Okinawa was entrusted to Japan by America.During the period of Tanaka Kakuei,the diplomatic relations between Japan and China has realized the goal of normalization,leading to the great achievement in independent diplomacy and independent security policy.Besides,policies like "Far East Terms" and "Collective Security Defense" broke through many forbidden areas in the security domain.With the high speed development of economy,seething with the Japanese nationalism,several governments put forward the proposal of researching and developing nuclear weapons,which aroused the worries from America.Hence,America began to contain Japan’s "Nuclear Stance".According to the implementing of "The Third Defense Force Organizing and Outfitting Plan" and "The Fourth Defense Force Organizing and Outfitting Plan",Japan built up a modern military with complete arm of services and relatively high equipment.Japan’s national defense construction and military expansion achieved major progress,laying a sound foundation for the great nationalization of its security policy.The great nationalization of Japan’s security policy was from 1975 to 1989.During this period,Japan has experienced the alternation of six cabinets,including Takeo Miki,Fukuda Takeo,Masayoshi Ohira,Zenko Yoshida,Nakasone Yasuhiro and Noburu Takeshita."Comprehensive Security Assurance Strategy",as the new proposal during this period,replaced the purely military-centered security policy adopted before.This strategy,covering politics,economy,energy and other fields into the scope of national security,showed that the pursuit of "great nationalization" of Japan’s security policy was becoming increasingly strong.Adapts with it,some targeted measures have been put forward,such as "Fukuda Doctrine","Conception of Pacific Rim Alliance","Tripolar System of Japan,American and Europe","International Countries","Conception of International Cooperation" and so on.Therefore,international and regional security cooperation began to appear."Japan-US Alliance",as the security system in pursuing the "great nationalization" of the security policy,continued to playing an important role.Many aspects of Japan’s security policy has emerged qualitative changes.For example,the defense cost broke the limitation of 1% of GNP;purely defensive defense was extended to 1000 miles as far as the seaway;campaign plan prohibited the collective right of self-defense and so on.The "great nationalization" of Japan’s security policy was not only the goal of "the postwar politics always makes a final accounting",but the inevitable results of a growing economic power.In conclusion,the historical evolution of Japan’s security policy was moving ahead,driven by the four wheels of pacifist constitution,the construction of self-defense troop,Japan-US security system and international and regional security cooperation,and left clear historical context of Japan’s national security policy in the Cold War era.The internal elements,like internationaly system,the group of countries,politic system,economic strength and the spiritual ideas of leaders and so on,determined the external features of the evolution of security policy during different periods.The evolution of Japan’s security policy not only contained the features of "diversity" and "complexity",but implied "retro,successive and conservative" features.