Unsolicited advice for next US ambo to Japan

Most important US bilateral relationship bar none needs strengthening. Here’s how best to do it

Four years ago the United States had a new president in Donald Trump. This writer wrote up some advice for the then-new ambassador headed to Japan. Now, four years later, the US has another new president and another as yet unidentified new top envoy to be dispatched to Tokyo.

In the spirit of foisting off – on a bipartisan basis – unsolicited advice, I offer my counsel again in the same terms with annotations as needed. The original article still reads almost as if the last four years hadn’t happened. And it wouldn’t be the first time this writer’s advice has been ignored.

ASIA TIMES, JANUARY 17, 2017

Dear new ambassador to Japan,

The United States will have a new president in a couple of days, and shortly afterward a new ambassador to Japan. The Tokyo envoy will no doubt study up on the issues, but here is some unsolicited advice anyway:

You’ll hear that the US-Japan relationship is the “most important bilateral relationship, bar none.” It is.  You’ll also hear that “it has never been stronger.” Actually it has been, but with some effort that claim could be made again.

There is more to the relationship than the military angle, but that is the most important part. Here are a few things to consider.

Don’t pick a fight with Japan over host nation support as your boss, Mr Trump, suggested he would — even if Japan can indeed afford to pay ten times more. That isn’t the issue.  (2021: This one is easy. Just don’t do it.)

Most of all, America needs more combat power from Japan, and it needs to better align and integrate this combat power with US forces. The Japan Self Defense Force needs to improve and it needs to be able to operate much better with US forces.

A more capable and powerful military reduces Japan’s dependence on the US military, relieves the burden on US forces defending Japanese interests farther afield and potentially augments overstretched US forces in the region.

And don’t forget the political knock-on effects of more effective Japanese forces, solidly linked and able to operate with US forces. China was counting on splitting the US and Japan alliance. American and Japanese forces operating together can make this much harder to do.

The Japanese military looks impressive on paper, but is less than the sum of its parts. The main problem is that the three Japanese services are mostly incapable of operating together.  Correcting this requires a desire on the part of Japan’s government, and finding senior officers committed to building a joint capability.

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