The newly minted prime minister of Japan, Ishiba Shigeru, called the creation of an “Asian version of NATO” to contain China “essential” in recent remarks, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday.
Ishiba became the nation’s prime minister on Tuesday after being elected to run the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Friday. He replaces outgoing Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, who announced he would step down in August. Ishiba was elected to run the LDP for three years.
The Yomiuri found Ishiba’s call for the creation of an anti-China military alliance in commentary that he offered to the Hudson Institute think tank. The Institute published replies to questions, many of them related to Japan’s national security, it had sent Ishiba on September 25, with the context that he answered them before he was elected to run the LDP. His answers, the Hudson Institute noted do “not necessarily reflect his view as the next prime minister.”
Ishiba’s answers repeatedly emphasized the need of creating a NATO-like military alliance in East Asia to protect from Chinese belligerence, comparing the top threat for NATO at the moment – the Russian invasion of Ukraine – to a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan. While Taiwan is a sovereign state, China falsely claims it as a rogue “province” and refers to its legitimate government as “separatists,” routinely threatening to invade.
Shortly before the onset of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, which devastated the Chinese economy, genocidal dictator Xi Jinping warned that the Taiwanese government and anyone who supports it would have their “bones ground to powder.”
“Ukraine today is Asia tomorrow,” Ishiba told the Hudson Institute. “Replacing Russia with China and Ukraine with Taiwan, the absence of a collective self-defense system like NATO in Asia means that wars are likely to break out because there is no obligation for mutual defense.”
These remarks echo some of the final writings of the late Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who prior to his assassination in 2022 advocated for a hardline stance in defense of Ukraine from the Russian invasion and compared the situation to China’s threats against Taiwan.
“The human tragedy that has befallen Ukraine has taught us a bitter lesson. There must no longer be any room for doubt in our resolve concerning Taiwan,” Abe wrote at the time.
“Under these circumstances, the creation of an Asian version of NATO is essential to deter China by its Western allies,” Ishiba added in his comments to the Hudson Institute.
Ishiba also noted that Japan’s enemies, most prominent Russia and North Korea, are increasingly committing to defending each other from any potential military entanglement. Russian strongman Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defense agreement with dictator Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang in June. Russia and Japan, while not actively hostile to each other, are in a technical state of war since World War II, as they have not agreed to any peace treaty or other method of ending the war.
“Recently, Russia and North Korea have formed a military alliance, and nuclear technology is being transferred from Russia to North Korea,” Ishiba said. “North Korea is strengthening its nuclear and missile capabilities, and if China’s strategic nuclear weapons are added to these dynamics, the US extended deterrence in the region will no longer function.”
“This is to be supplemented by an Asian version of NATO, which must ensure deterrence against the nuclear alliance of China, Russia, and North Korea,” he continued. “The Asian version of NATO must also specifically consider America’s sharing of nuclear weapons or the introduction of nuclear weapons into the region.”
Ishiba also proposed greatly strengthening the relationship between Japan and America, comparing his ideal to the “special relationship” between Washington and London.
“The current Japan-US security treaty is structured so that the US is obligated to ‘defend’ Japan, and Japan is obligated to ‘provide bases’ to the US,” he noted. “The time is ripe to change this ‘asymmetrical bilateral treaty.'”
Ishiba, a longtime LDP stalwart, defeated a record eight other candidates for the leadership of the LDP last week. A lawmaker since 1986, Ishiba vocally supports expanding the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) ability to act, opposing pacifist calls to maintain the longstanding policy of not having a formal military. Ishiba lost some support from Japanese conservatives on domestic issues, however, for supporting same-sex marriages, and for joining the chorus of those who believed that Kishida should give up the prime ministership.
Kishida announced he would step down in August after polling showed him growing increasingly unpopular, alongside his ruling party. Kishida noted the damage that a variety of scandals – most involving political corruption, some involving ties to the notorious Unification Church – had done to the LDP’s public standing, declaring, “politics cannot function without public trust.”
The Unification Church, an organization widely referred to as a cult and known for its eccentric founder Rev. Sun Myung-moon, developed ties with many high-ranking politicians and became embroiled in fundraising scandals. Abe’s assassin, Yamagami Tetsuya, told police that he targeted Abe because of his ties to the Church. Yamagami said that his mother had been a longtime member of the church and fell into bankruptcy while donating her money to the Unification Church, leaving his family destitute. The Church ultimately confirmed that Yamagami Yoko, his mother, was a member.
Abe reportedly made appearances at events with ties to the Unification Church, but he was not a member. Following his assassination, several high-ranking LDP members were also exposed as having ties to the Church, sending the party’s approval ratings into a tailspin.
Despite the LDP’s woes in the past year, it still counts on the lack of a formidable, unified Japanese left existing on a national level. Even in the throes of some of its lowest approval ratings under Kishida, for example, the LDP kept the governorship of Tokyo in an election in July in which the top rival was endorsed by the Japanese Communist Party – but who had to compete with a record 55 other candidates for media attention.
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