JMSDF Staff College Review Volume 2 English Version (Selected)

JMSDF Staff College Review Volume 2 English version (Selected) JMSDF STAFF COLLEGE REVIEW JAPAN MARITIME SELF-DEFENSE FORCE STAFF COLLEGE REVIEW Volume2 English Version (Selected) MAY 2013 MAY 2012 Foreword IWASAKI Hidetoshi 2 Challenges for JMSDF after Post- Cold SUGIMOTO Yoichi War Era HIRAYAMA Shigetoshi INOUE Takashi USHIROGATA Keitaro 3 PLAN’s Influence on PLA Decision Making System : Perception Gap between PLA and PLAN YAMAMOTO Katsuya 30 Over Sea India-Japan Maritime Security PANNEERSELVAM, Prakash 67 Cooperation (1999-2009): A Report Introduction of Writers From the Editors Cover: Ice Breaker JS SHIRASE operating in the Antarctic Ocean 1 JMSDF Staff College Review Volume 2 English version (Selected) JMSDF Staff College Review Volume 2 English version (Selected) Foreword The year of 2012 was the sixtieth anniversary of the JMSDF foundation. Japanese celebrate our sixtieth birthdays to review our lives in the past and refresh our minds for the future. The JMSDF contributing to the international security environment for sixty years should take this opportunity to trace its history and find a destination where we should navigate from this time on by overlooking current international situation. The JMSDF Staff College has published two Japanese version of JMSDF Staff College Review with total 14 original essays in 2012, and this time we selected three of them for the second volume of English version. A paper co-authored by SUGIMOTO, HIRAYAMA, INOUE and USHIROGATA is about an opinion what capabilities and functions the JMSDF should have around 2030 and what scheme should be put forward for adjusting to change in international circumstances. They also analyze the changes in preconception of the international situation surrounding Japan. YAMAMOTO’s paper is an examination of the true nature of Chinese People’s Liberation Army through his experience served as a Defense Attaché to Beijing. He clarifies that PLA has a strong army-centric sense which even affects maritime issue by analyzing PLA Navy’s influence upon Central Military Commissions and China’s decision making system. Considering the security policy of Japan, it is quite effective to know a domestic structure of our neighbouring country and its Navy’s positioning. In addition, it is also beneficial for us to promote defense exchanges and cooperation with other countries in the future. Mr. PANNEERSELVAM, Prakash was the first foreign visiting fellow of the JMSDF Staff College and conducted research on Japan- India Maritime Security Cooperation from 2011 to 2012. The paper summarizes his one year study and provides us a new view on a relationship between Japan and India. I hope these essays are helpful to readers those who studying security issues. IWASAKI Hidetoshi 2 JMSDF Staff College Review Volume 2 English version (Selected) Challenges for JMSDF after the Post-Cold War Era SUGIMOTO Yoichi, HIRAYAMA Shigetoshi INOUE Takashi, USHIROGATA Keitaro Introduction – Anchors aweigh – “Annual Report on the Japanese Economy in 1956” (subtitled “Growth of Japanese Economy and Its Modernization”) issued in July 1956 stated in its conclusion that “Japan is no longer in the post-war period1.” A half century has passed since “the post-war period” was over, and more than 20 years since the Cold War era – in which the world feared a collision of East and West – was ended. We expected that new, peaceful days would come “after the end of the Cold War.” However, as Hubert Vedrine said, what we saw in the post-Cold War period was the blast of ethnic conflicts and religious disputes which had been contained in the international community in the Cold War period, and the reality was that “in globalized world, terrorism is also global2.” Although in the Cold War era there was the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, the “balance of power” of the two superpowers worked really well and a variety of international systems to support the stability of the polarized world were developed in this period3. Right now it is the transition that the mono-polar world led by the United States after the end of the Cold War changes to the multi-polar world. The multi-polar world that human beings had experienced in the past few centuries was the world where the neighboring powers located on the western edge of the “World Island,” which was called Europe, had contested with each other. However, the multi-polar world that we now live in is the globalized world where human beings are mutually dependent although they live under different political systems and have different values because of a variety of different races and religions. This is the first 1 The Economic Planning Agency, Annual Report on the Japanese Economy 1956, Printing Bureau of the Ministry of Finance of Japan, 1956. 2 Huvert Vedrine, History strikes back, Brookings institution press, 2008, pp. 17-18 3 Tetsuya Umemoto, The US Global Strategy and the International Order, Minerva-shobo, 2010, p. 21. 3 JMSDF Staff College Review Volume 2 English version (Selected) experience in the world history. It is impossible to give a firm answer to the question of what international order can work in this new multi-polar world and if the balance of power, for example, can function as it worked in Europe in the past. We are now in the midst of change where the “complication of an interconnected global environment where economic power, access to resources, and cutting edge technologies are redefining national power4.” And, the speed of change is being ever accelerated. Let’s turn our eyes to Japan. Japan is the sixth largest maritime nation in the world with a total of approximately 4.47 million square kilometers of territorial waters and exclusive economic zone5. As Japan is surrounded by waters in all directions, 99.7% of total tonnage of imports and exports is transported by ocean shipping. As Japan’s lifeline, shipping is of paramount importance for Japan to support its economy and its citizens’ life6. Marine container cargo movement of Japan amounts to about 12% of the world’s total volume. Thus, Japan’s shipping business supports amenities of the world’s life7 . Peace and stability of vast water areas and enormously long sea lanes for Japan’s shipping cannot be maintained only by Japan’s own efforts, but by a variety of international schemes, such as the Japan-US alliance, and many countries’ international contributions. However, as Kyoichi Tachikawa pointed out, it is actually the case that “Japan is not very conscious of the fact that it enjoys the benefits of today’s stable international order, nor is it well aware of how such order is established and maintained8.” On the other hand, Eiichi Funada mentioned that “the Gulf War and the 4 Juan Zarate, “Playing a New Geoeconomic Game” 2012 Global Forecast, CSIS, http://csis.org/publication/2012-global-forecast (Last access date: May 9, 2012). 5 Total size of territorial waters and exclusive economic zone of Japan is about twelve times larger than its land territory. Its coastline is about 35 thousand kilometers long (equivalent to 88% of the earth’s circumference), and it is the sixth longest in the world. 6 Annual Marine Report in 2011, Maritime Bureau of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 2011, http://www.mlit.go.jp/maritime/kaijireport/kairepo10.html (Last access date: May 21, 2012). 7 The Japanese Shipowners’ Association, “SHIPPING NOW” p. 2, http://www.jsanet.or.jp/data/pdf/shippingnow2012a.pdf (Last access date: October 1, 2012). 8 Kyoichi Tachikawa, “Sea Power,” Kyoichi Tachikawa, et al. (Eds.), Sea Power – Its Theory and Practice –, Fuyo Shobo Press, 2008, p. 57. 4 JMSDF Staff College Review Volume 2 English version (Selected) detachment of the minesweeping squadron of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) after the end of the Gulf War were the real turning point of the security policy of Japan. Japan has learnt from a series of these events that in the post-Cold War era a regional conflict even in a very remote area may pose a threat to Japan’s safety and that in some situations Japan may be required to utilize its defense capacity in order to protect its own interest and the interest of the international society9.” Thus, the view of Japanese citizens on maritime security is changing, and this change reflects the expansion of roles of JMSDF. During the periods after the end of the Cold War and after the end of the post-Cold War era, JMSDF has been expanded its role of conventional “defense of Japan” to conduct various activities for regional stabilization, and cooperation for antiterrorist measures, etc. In response to the demands of the times, JMSDF has carried out a variety of missions and navy men and women on site have dedicated their efforts. International situations are still uncertain and the conflicts with neighboring countries over the territory become more than mere diplomatic issues. These situations cause problems in maritime security and generate sources of discord. High expectations are placed on JMSDF in these situations. In the paper contributed to the JMSDF’s periodical “Hatou10” in 2008 titled “Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in the New Maritime Era11 ,” RADM Tomohisa Takei, then-Director General of Operation and Planning Department, Maritime Staff Office, JMSDF, presented the objectives of JMSDF to cope with the international situations at the time and the directions to which JMSDF should go to achieve such objectives. The objectives and the measures to achieve them proposed in Takei (2008) remain to be thought-provoking even in light of the today’s international situations. However, the international situations have 9 Eiichi Funada, “Sea Power and the Japan-US Defense Cooperation,” Kyoichi Tachikawa, et al. (Eds.), Sea Power – Its Theory and Practice –, Fuyo Shobo Press, 2008, p.

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