Trump’s Remarks on the Opportunity To Renew US-Japan Security Treaty

Published in The Sankei News
(Japan) on 28 June 2019
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Eric Stimson. Edited by Denile Doyle.
In an interview with an American television station, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed dissatisfaction over how the defensive responsibility grounded in the security treaty between the United States and Japan is one-sided. America protects Japan, but, he pointed out, “If we’re attacked, Japan doesn’t have to help us at all.”

There’s no need to fret about whether this statement is a portent of America discarding the security treaty. Yet it is undeniable that it throws the treaty’s structural instability into relief.

We may soon get requests for an increase in defense expenditures or assistance with guarding tankers in the Middle East. Japan should contribute its share of the responsibility.

At a press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, “Viewed as a whole, there is a balance between Japanese and American responsibilities, and the claim that our relationship is one-sided doesn’t hold water,”* while emphasizing that the treaty would not be reexamined.

The framework of the security treaty is that America defends Japan while Japan provides bases; it could also be called an “asymmetric bilateral relationship.” The treaty is vital to America.

Thanks to Japan’s supply of bases, the U.S. military can spread out from Northeast Asia to the Western Pacific and Middle East. Annulling this would fundamentally overturn America’s global strategy. Without the alliance with Japan, America wouldn’t be able to conduct a “new cold war” with China to its advantage. It wouldn’t be able to obstruct Chinese hegemony.

The Japanese-American alliance is an international public good that upholds the freedom and prosperity of the people of the Indo-Pacific region. Maintaining it is the international duty of Japan and America.

Both the Japanese and American governments understand this well. There is no reason to discard the security treaty.

And yet, the structural instability remains. “If we’re attacked … [Japan] can watch it on a Sony television, the attack,” Trump pointed out.

If this occurs, the American people will not see it as reciprocal and will instead strongly object. If their hearts are not with Japan, then the American government will find it difficult to implement the treaty.

The Shinzo Abe administration has prepared security-related legislation to enable limited exercise of the right of collective defense. It opened the way to a situation where Japan and America can protect one another, but there are excessive restrictions on its application. The situation Trump described is not unlikely.

In 2011, The Sankei Shimbun argued in favor of another revision of the security treaty to establish a fully equal mutual defense system between Japan and America. The significance of this has not been lost even now.

*Editor’s note: This quote, although accurately translated, could not be verified.




トランプ米大統領が米テレビ局のインタビューで、日米安全保障条約に基づく防衛義務が片務的であるとして、不満を表明した。米国は日本を守るが、「米国が攻撃されたとき日本はわれわれを助ける必要がない」と指摘した。

 この発言をもって、米国が安保条約を破棄する兆しと焦る必要はない。ただし、安保条約の構造的な不安定性を浮き彫りにした点は否めない。

 今後、防衛費の増額や中東でのタンカー護衛への協力などの要請があるかもしれない。日本は応分の責任を果たすべきだ。

 菅義偉官房長官は会見で「全体としてみれば日米双方の義務のバランスは取れており、片務的との指摘は当たらない」と述べ、条約の見直しはないと強調した。

 米国は日本を防衛し、日本は基地を提供することが安保条約の骨格で、「非対称的双務関係」とも呼ばれる。安保条約は、米国にとっても死活的に重要である。

 日本の基地提供のおかげで、米軍は北東アジアはもとより、西太平洋から中東まで展開できる。破棄は米国の世界戦略を根底から覆す。日米同盟がなければ、米国は中国との「新冷戦」を有利に進めることもできない。中国の覇権を阻めなくなるだろう。

 日米同盟は、インド太平洋の諸国民の自由と繁栄の前提となる国際公共財だ。その維持は、日米の国際的な責任である。

 これらを日米両政府はよく分かっている。安保条約の破棄はありえない理由である。

 ただし、それでも構造的な不安定性が残っている。トランプ大統領は「米国が攻撃されたとき、日本はその状況をソニーのテレビで見ていられる」と指摘した。

 これが現実になれば、米国民は双務的とは考えず、強く反発するに違いない。米国民の心が日本から離れれば、米政府といえども安保条約の履行は難しい。

 安倍晋三政権は、集団的自衛権の限定行使を可能にする安保関連法を整えた。日米が守り合う状況をつくる道を開いたが、適用には過度の制限がかかっている。トランプ大統領の指摘するようなケースが起きないともかぎらない。

 産経新聞は平成23年、日米が完全に対等な相互防衛体制を確立するよう、安保条約の再改定案を世に問うた。その意義は今も失われていない。
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