In response, the Japanese government has already issued travel advisories, raised the threat condition and facilitated departures for citizens via commercial aircraft. The Ethiopian government implemented gag orders on the media to prevent leaks of operational information, and the prime minister himself, Abiy Ahmed, has said that he will be heading to the front lines to direct the Ethiopian military, just two years after he received the Nobel Prize for the peace agreement he brokered with bordering Eritrea. The situation there has rapidly worsened, as rebels from the country’s Tigray region fought their way close to Addis Ababa, the capital city. In Ethiopia, it appears that wave may be coming. With this, Kishida demonstrated a learned lesson from Afghanistan: If ever it seems that citizens will need to be rescued from a foreign country, stay ahead of the wave. The team’s mission: gather information on the deteriorating security situation in Ethiopia and prepare for any potential evacuation effort, including that which might require SDF aircraft. On the same day that Kishida traveled to Camp Asaka, it was revealed that he had authorized the dispatch of a small team to Djibouti. Those are all daunting tasks, but Kishida has signaled that his administration will attempt to overcome them. There are some significant hurdles associated with realizing strike capabilities, including acquiring the equipment necessary to execute those operations modifying Japan’s security laws and policies to make them actionable working through the budgeting and priorities debate and figuring out where to base those new capabilities in the country. What is surprising is that Kishida would open so early in his administration with this position, offering a clear signal of a position that will likely be reflected in the strategies and policies to come. It has long been the constitutional interpretation that a strike against enemy bases to defend Japan is lawful, and it reflects the LDP’s policy that has been championed by none other than Kishida’s faction-mate, former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera. He was unequivocal in that statement, well-establishing his administration’s position on the matter that, if necessary, he would employ the SDF to use force against an adversary’s military bases to defend the country. He reviewed the troops, donned a helmet, rode a tank and then delivered some interesting remarks.Īmong the things he said was that striking enemy bases was an option in the face of regional threats. Last week, Kishida traveled to Camp Asaka just outside of downtown Tokyo to visit the Ground Self-Defense Force units there. In other words, the Kishida administration will brook no delay in implementing its defense designs. The Kishida administration will use the supplementary budget to bolster its southwest islands defense designs, purchasing missile defense equipment, anti-air equipment and transport and maritime domain awareness aircraft.Īlso included in the supplementary budget are funds meant for moving forward on basing new missile batteries in Ishigaki, an island southwest of Okinawa.
The other half is not for new purchases, but to expedite procurement projects that are already included in the budget for fiscal year 2022.Īlthough in practice this does not sound exciting, it represents something that has not been all too common in the realm of Japanese security: a sense of urgency. About half of it will go to subsidizing Japanese defense firms that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Included in that supplementary budget is ¥773.8 billion ($6.7 billion) for defense spending, or about 13% of the annual defense budget. 6, the ruling coalition will convene an extraordinary session of parliament to pass the biggest-ever supplementary budget.
Most notably, these have come with the supplemental budget, his position towards so-called strike capabilities, a recent decision on the evacuation of Japanese citizens in Ethiopia and his pursuit of a longer-term evolution of Japan’s security strategy. Despite the looming Upper House election and his own economics-focused agenda, Kishida has personally endorsed some bold moves in the security realm since taking office.