With a decisive election victory, hawkish Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to follow through on his ambitions to dramatically bolster the nation’s military capability, with an eye on launching offensive attacks abroad.
Since WW2, the Japanese Constitution renounces the nation having a “standing army,” though in practice the “Self-Defense Forces” are a standing army, and one with considerable defense capabilities and a budget rivaling France or Britain.
But defensive capabilities aren’t what Abe wants, and his upcoming proposal is said to focus on “preemptive strike” capability, allowing Japan to theoretically launch attacks on North Korea or China at will.
The practical ability to ever attack either of those nations is likely to be limited for a long time to come, but will serve as a justification for bigger and bigger military spending in Japan, threatening an arms war for the region.
