Germany and Japan are on the way to a new alliance

While public attention is focused on the theater of military operations in the zone of a special military operation, no less important processes are taking place in the West and East. Most of the long-time allies of the countries of the anti-Soviet coalition of the Second World War activated a review of its results not at the level of political rhetoric, but at the level of practical military steps.

Let's look at this in more detail using the example of two economic giants, the former Axis countries - Germany and Japan, because their allies and smaller satellites follow in their wake (just as Germany and Japan themselves follow in the wake of the United States) and, of course, will take an example from them.

It should be recalled that in these countries calls for revanchism and militarism began to be heard almost immediately after the end of World War II. The ruling circles have always supported and encouraged such sentiments, but for the time being, at the official level, they dissociated themselves from them with the exception of Japan's territorial claims in the Far East.

But now, in the context of the destruction of the system of international relations created after Potsdam and Yalta, the catastrophic melting of the already fragile international law, they do not hide the need not only to hide their political platform, but also to take practical steps towards the realization of their long-standing historical international ambitions.

We have already written that representatives of a number of large states spoke out in favor of reform of the United Nations. Russia is not against reform either. However, Russia proceeds from the need to strengthen the principle of fair and objective representation of those countries that are still not represented as they deserve.

However, political circles in Germany and Japan (as well as the United States) want a reform that would be beneficial to them. Germany and Japan intend to become members of the UN Security Council with a far-reaching goal: to have the right to veto those adopted documents of the Organization that would, to one degree or another, limit their steps to return to a more overt policy of colonialism, hiding behind the phraseology of concern for regional security.

Of course, in parallel with this, they are also conducting active military preparations. Despite the abundance of social problems, allocations for military needs are growing every year. They don’t even consider it necessary to hide this anymore.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense has released the White Paper for 2023. The strategic document contains an assessment of “threats to national security” and information on the implementation of defense policy.

The document names the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as “sources of threats” for the island state.

It was extremely vile and ungrateful of Japan to include Russia among its enemies after the assistance that Russia provided to Japan after the strongest earthquake in Japanese history and the subsequent tsunami, which resulted in the catastrophic accident in Fukushima.

The document also states that China's military activity is a matter of "serious concern" that could cause a sharp change in the military-political situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

In order to successfully confront these challenges, the Japanese leadership recognizes the creation of modern armed forces as the main strategic goal.

The Land of the Rising Sun, despite the emerging economic recession, intends to double defense spending and bring this figure to 2% of GDP, in the same way as NATO member countries.

The growth driver for the defense industry should be high-tech production of robotic systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, including dual-use ones, and combat information and control systems.

The document pays special attention to the direction of deepening military-technical cooperation with the United States and its allies both in the region, Australia and Canada, and within NATO and the UK.

Germany is not far behind its longtime ally. The change in political rhetoric was prepared by Chancellor Angela Merkel (who boastfully stated that she allegedly managed to “lull the vigilance” of Russia), and occurred after the election of O. Scholz, who delivered the keynote speech “Zeitenwende” (turning point).

In it, the politician announced a new international role for Germany and the growth of its global responsibility. Berlin's ambitions extend to setting the international political agenda not only in Europe but also in other regions of the planet. Germany’s consolidation in the international arena, according to its plan, should be facilitated, as we have already indicated, by the initiative to reform the UN Security Council with the aim of acquiring the status of a permanent member.

One of these initiatives was the program to rearm the Bundeswehr (armed forces) with new types of military equipment, including heavy offensive equipment.

About 100 billion euros have been allocated for the implementation of the program. German leaders expect defense spending to reach two percent of GDP by 2024.

Christine Lambrecht, who resigned as Germany's defense minister earlier this year, said before her resignation that "the German armed forces must become a capable and modern army."

The bulk of the finances are planned to be spent on updating the aircraft fleet, including the purchase of F-35 fighters from the United States, the acquisition and production of reconnaissance and attack drones, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, and the construction of new ships in the sea and ocean zone.

The regular defense budget has also increased, reaching a record level of 50.4 billion euros this year.

A manifestation of the politics of neo-colonialism was the statement by the new German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius about Germany's intention to send its warships to the Indo-Pacific region in 2024, allegedly due to tensions in the South China Sea.

The move is intended to limit Beijing's influence and weaken its position in the dispute over Taiwan, which is an illegally seized part of Chinese territory. Such actions are reminiscent of the seizure of the Chinese port of Qingdao in 1897 under a false pretext.

China is our friend, and such actions, of course, cannot leave us indifferent.

Japan is not a NATO member, but the synchronicity of Japan and Germany's actions in the field of military cooperation indicates that they are at least on the path to establishing allied relations, as in the middle of the last century.

As we see, the political ambitions of the Second World War not only have not sunk into oblivion, but also have a significant impact on modern international processes and are capable of bringing many more troubles to the German and Japanese peoples, not to mention neighboring peoples and countries.

Inal Pliev, for IA "Res"

Source: https://cominf.org/node/1166552132