Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Former Japanese Defense Minister ISHIBA Shigeru said he supported creating an Asia-Pacific version of NATO or Japan joining NATO in some capacity but noted that this would require a change in Japan’s pacifist constitution.

“We need to change the constitution to ensure our unconditional right to self-defense. Without that, we cannot join an Asian-Pacific NATO.” He said it was important for Japan to have its own direction on military matters. 

“There needs to be more consideration as to how the US-Japan alliance functions,” he told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. “There is no joint command structure as there is with the US and South Korea and this is something we need. At the moment, Japan’s defense is reliant on the nuclear umbrella that the US provides.” 

“I believe that the US-Japan alliance is very important, but that does not mean the same thing as trying to meet all the demands of the US or doing anything in order to please the US. It is important to stay on America’s good side, but it is not in Japan’s interests to expand its military capabilities just to please the US.”

Ishiba, who is also the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s former Secretary-General, the No. 2 post in the party, is a perennial challenger for his party’s top post, which would make him prime minister, and he remains popular with many voters, but not necessarily the right ones.

“A lot of people who support me are actually from the opposition camp or independents,” he said in reply to a question from Arab News Japan. “Becoming prime minister is a means to achieving something. I have never thought of becoming prime minister as a goal. I would like to make Japan a sustainable and independent country and efforts should be made to influence people to do so, and becoming prime minister is one way to do this. But I can’t abandon my beliefs in order to become prime minister.”

In opinion polls, Ishiba ranks highly among those who are “worthy of becoming the next prime minister,” but he has lost in four campaigns to become party president. However, he has not ruled out a fifth campaign. Digital Minister Taro Kono is currently the most popular LDP politician with 24 percent, followed by Ishibashi at 15 percent.