Analysis: Why Is Japan Buying Tomahawk Missiles From U.S.?
Why is Japan investing in Tomahawk missiles? TaiwanPlus speaks to Riley Walters from the Hudson Institute.
Transcript
00:00 This decision by Japan to buy up to 400 US-made Tomahawk missiles, is this a sign of what
00:07 maybe what could be a future trend in the way that Japan's self-defense forces are postured?
00:12 The purchase of the 400 Tomahawk missiles from the United States, I think it does two
00:17 things.
00:18 First, it shows that there's definitely a change in sentiment within Tokyo.
00:23 As their new national security strategy from a year ago said, you know, the region is probably
00:28 the most worrisome it's been since World War II.
00:33 And so, you know, it's no longer just, we used to call this sort of the sword and shield,
00:38 where it shows that Tokyo has really changed some of the sentiment in that it won't own
00:43 capabilities that it could combine into its own forces.
00:48 The second thing is, it also shows sort of expedited sentiment in these concerns for
00:57 these.
00:58 The buying of the Tomahawks is really more of a filler in the meantime, before Japan
01:03 can start producing its own indigenous weapons, its own missile capabilities to a capacity
01:09 that can meet its demand.
01:11 Now this push to purchase these types of weapons, is this more of a United States kind of lead
01:16 push for Japan to acquire this sort of capability?
01:19 Or is this more of a sentiment within Japan to maybe adjust to the current security environment?
01:26 It's absolutely coming from Tokyo.
01:28 Washington welcomes it.
01:29 Washington welcomes when any country, especially those it's allied with, takes more of an initiative
01:34 to boost up their own defense.
01:36 But this is very much Tokyo decision.
01:39 You know, the belligerence that we've seen out of Beijing for the last several years
01:42 has really caught the eye of Tokyo.
01:44 You know, it's not just PLA planes and vessels flying around Taiwan, it's flying around and
01:50 sailing around the islands of Japan as well.
01:52 And so they're very worried about those developments.
01:57 The sentiment in Japan, Japan is, as everyone should know, is a pacifist nation, which renounces
02:04 any act of war.
02:05 But that doesn't mean it doesn't have self-defense capabilities.
02:09 That's why its self-defense forces are called that.
02:12 But it does go to show that the sentiment around this is that Japan isn't going to necessarily
02:18 strike first, but that it will have the counter capabilities it needs if it were to come under
02:23 attack by the PLA or North Korea or some other party in the region that threatens Japan.
02:30 This isn't the first purchase of Tomahawk missiles by a country in Asia.
02:34 Australia last year was also looking to acquire the same sort of weapons.
02:39 But this trend of maybe a more offensive capabilities, is this going to be something that we're going
02:44 to be seeing in the Indo-Pacific region?
02:47 I think it's one element.
02:49 The other thing that the Japanese release their national security strategy is their
02:53 national defense strategy and buildup plan.
02:56 And missiles is a big part of that.
02:59 Missile defense is a big part of that.
03:01 But other areas as well, such as new fighter program development or autonomous weaponry,
03:07 it's very much leaning into the new asymmetric capability side that a country like Japan,
03:16 where they have a diminishing population, which means diminishing force size, have to
03:23 ultimately rely on.
03:24 And so missiles is always an important part of that, but it's not the only one.
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