Two World War II defeated countries openly play with fire. Recently, Japan and Germany made a big move. They held a joint military exercise for the first time after World War II. What is their intention in the context of Japan's efforts to break through the "special defense" and advocating the lifting of the ban on "collective self-defense rights", and seeking the so-called "military normalization"? Experts bluntly said that Japan's actions deserve vigilance.
According to Global Network , on September 20 local time, Japanese media reported that Japan Airlines Self-Defense Force announced that fighter jets of fighter jets will fly to the Hyamiri Base in Ibaraki Prefecture on the 28th to conduct joint training with 3 F-2 fighter jets of . This will be the first time that the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force and the Luftwaffe have jointly trained in Japan. At the same time, this is also the first joint military exercise between Japan and Germany after World War II. Recently, a spokesperson for the Luftwaffe also announced that the Luftwaffe will hold its first joint training in history with the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force on September 28. Japanese media said that joint training subjects include "formation and navigation training"; the Luftwaffe said that the purpose of joint training is to "promote mutual understanding, strengthen defense cooperation, and improve the Luftwaffe tactical skills."
It is undeniable that in recent years, Germany's expansion of military activities in the Asia-Pacific region has always been a hot topic of concern to the outside world. Just in mid-August before arriving in Japan, Germany also sent 13 military aircraft to participate in the biennial "Operation Dark" multinational exercise held in Australia. At that time, foreign media commented that this was the largest deployment of the Luftwaffe in the peace era, highlighting that Germany is paying more attention to the Indo-Pacific region. Luftwaffe Commander Gerharz claimed that the Luftwaffe sent a clear signal to partners such as Australia: the Luftwaffe can be deployed quickly worldwide, even if multiple tasks are to be completed simultaneously.
In addition to Germany, Japan's purpose of inviting Germany to hold joint exercises in China is also clear. It was mentioned in Japan's 2022 edition of " Defense White Paper ": European countries including the allies of the United States, as well as Germany and other European countries... are all countries with geographical and historical ties in the Indo-Pacific region. For these countries, while promoting their deeper participation in Indo-Pacific affairs, Japan collaborates with it as a partner in the region to carry out defense cooperation and exchanges so that it can implement more effective cooperation than Japan's separate operations. In short, Japan intends to attract European countries led by the United States to make trouble in the Asia-Pacific region and expose a "feeling of existence".
It is worth noting that in recent years, Japan has been trying hard to break through "special defense" and advocated the lifting of the ban on "collective self-defense rights", that is, to make Japan Self-Defense Force have the ability to "both offense and defense", especially overseas to implement source strikes against other countries. Previously, the Japanese government had just completed a record-breaking defense budget application, and planned to exceed 6 trillion yen for the first time in fiscal year 2023, accounting for more than 1% of GDP and will increase to 2% within 5 years. Including this budget plan, Japan's military expenditure has expanded for 10 consecutive years. At the same time, Germany is also trying to seek military loosening. On September 16, local time, German Chancellor Scholz said at the German Federal Defense Forces event day that as a country in the central European continent, the German army must become the cornerstone of Europe's conventional defense: Europe has the best equipped troops, and the German army should play a leading role in strengthening European security. And, he promised to provide more funds for German Federal Defense Forces , "increase the defense budget to 2% of GDP ".
Against this background, Japan and Germany are now joining together for training again, which inevitably makes people think. Military expert Song Zhongping bluntly stated that Japan's actions are worthy of vigilance, and its main purposes are: first, through cooperation with NATO countries, help the United States implement its so-called " Indo-Pacific Strategy "; second, regard China as an opponent and as an enemy, so it is necessary to win over NATO countries to jointly fight against China. It is undeniable that as a country that bears deep historical culpability for Asian neighbors, Japan's attempt to subvert the international order established after World War II should arouse the international community's high vigilance.
