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Japan Missions
Despite the nation's status as a major world power,
Japan
eschewed responsibility for regional defense. Having
renounced war,
the possession of war potential, the right of
belligerency, and the
possession of nuclear weaponry, it held the view that it
should
possess only the minimum defense necessary to face
external
threats. Within those limits, the Self-Defense Forces Law
of 1954
provides the basis from which various formulations of SDF
missions
have been derived. The law states that ground, maritime,
and air
forces are to preserve the peace and independence of the
nation and
to maintain national security by conducting operations on
land, at
sea, and in the air to defend the nation against direct
and
indirect aggression.
The general framework through which these missions are
to be
accomplished is set forth in the Basic Policy for National
Defense
adopted by the cabinet in 1957; it remains in force.
According to
this document, the nation's security would be achieved by
supporting the United Nations (UN) and promoting
international
cooperation, by stabilizing domestic affairs and enhancing
public
welfare, by gradually developing an effective self-defense
capability, and by dealing with external aggression on the
basis of
Japan-United States security arrangements, pending the
effective
functioning of the UN.
The very general terms in which military missions are
couched
left specifics open to wide interpretation and prompted
the
criticism that the nation did not possess a military
strategy. In
the 1976 National Defense Program Outline, the cabinet
sought to
define missions more specifically by setting guidelines
for the
nation's readiness, including specific criteria for the
maintenance
and operation of the SDF. Under these guidelines, in cases
of
limited and small-scale attack, Japanese forces would
respond
promptly to control the situation. If enemy forces
attacked in
greater strength than Japan could counter alone, the SDF
would
engage the attacker until the United States could come to
its aid.
Against nuclear threat, Japan would rely on the nuclear
deterrence
of the United States. To accomplish its missions, the SDF
would
maintain surveillance, be prepared to respond to direct
and
indirect attacks, be capable of providing command,
communication,
logistics, and training support, and be available to aid
in
disaster relief.
The outline specified quotas of personnel and equipment
for
each force that were deemed necessary to meet its tasks.
Particular
elements of each force's mission were also identified. The
GSDF was
to defend against ground invasion and threats to internal
security,
be able to deploy to any part of the nation, and protect
the bases
of all three services of the Self-Defense Forces. The MSDF
was to
meet invasion by sea, sweep mines, patrol and survey the
surrounding waters, and guard and defend coastal waters,
ports,
bays, and major straits. The ASDF was to render aircraft
and
missile interceptor capability, provide support fighter
units for
maritime and ground operations, supply air reconnaissance
and air
transport for all forces, and maintain airborne and
stationary
early warning units.
The Mid-Term Defense Estimate for FY 1986 through FY
1990
envisioned a modernized SDF with an expanded role. While
maintaining Japan-United States security arrangements and
the
exclusively defensive policy mandated by the constitution,
this
program undertook moderate improvements in Japanese
defense
capabilities. Among its specific objectives were bettering
air
defense by improving and modernizing interceptor-fighter
aircraft
and surface-to-air missiles, improving antisubmarine
warfare
capability with additional destroyers and fixed-wing
antisubmarine
patrol aircraft, and upgrading intelligence,
reconnaissance, and
command, control, and communications. Most of the goals of
this
program were met, and the goals of the Mid-Term Defense
Estimate
for FY 1991 through FY 1995, although building on the
early progam,
were considerably scaled back.
The SDF disaster relief role is defined in Article 83
of the
Self-Defense Forces Law of 1954, requiring units to
respond to
calls for assistance from prefectural governors to aid in
fire
fighting, earthquake disasters, searches for missing
persons,
rescues, and reinforcement of embankments and levees in
the event
of flooding. The SDF has not been used in police actions,
nor is it
likely to be assigned any internal security tasks in the
future.
In June 1992, the National Diet passed a UN
Peacekeeping
Cooperation Law which permitted the SDF to participate in
UN
medical, refugee aid, transportation, infrastructural
repair,
election-monitoring, and policing operations under
strictly limited
conditions
(see The Legislature
, ch. 6). This law was used
in 1992-
93 to authorize the deployment of 600 SDF and seventy-five
police
personnel for UN engineering and election-monitoring
projects in
Cambodia and again in the spring of 1993 to send
fifty-three
persons to participate in peacekeeping operations in
Mozambique.
Data as of January 1994
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