JAPAN LAUNCHES "GREATER EAST ASIA CO-SECURITY SPHERE"

Possibly one of the biggest "unintended consequences" of Vladimir Putin's unhinged invasion of the Ukraine has been the effect it appears to have had on neighbouring countries like Japan.

While neighbours to the West, such as Finland and Sweden, have joined NATO, other countries have boosted military spending.

In May, Germany's political parties agreed to boost the defence budget by an additional $107 billion. But this is chickenfeed compared to what Japan is shelling out. The government there recently unveiled a plan to spend an additional $320 billion to beef up its ability to dominate the seas around Japan.

As reported by Reuters:

Japan on Friday [16th Dec] unveiled its biggest military build-up since World War Two with a $320 billion plan that will buy missiles capable of striking China and ready it for sustained conflict... The sweeping, five-year plan, once unthinkable in pacifist Japan, will make the country the world's third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who described Japan and its people as being at a "turning point in history", said the ramp-up was "my answer to the various security challenges that we face".

There is no doubt that this move was entirely down to the destabilising effect on the geopolitical order caused by Putin's act of aggression against his Slavic neighbour:

[Kishida's] government worries that Russia has set a precedent that will encourage China to attack Taiwan, threatening nearby Japanese islands, disrupting supplies of advanced semiconductors and putting a potential stranglehold on sea lanes that supply Middle East oil.

"This is setting a new heading for Japan. If appropriately executed, the Self-Defense Forces will be a real, world-class effective force," said Yoji Koda, a former Maritime Self Defense Force admiral, who commanded the Japanese fleet in 2008.

But it's not just about the money. Since its defeat in 1945, Japan has, with some difficulty, tried to remain a "Pacifist state" with an anti-war ethos. This level of military spending and preparedness, however, may trigger a cultural change and awaken the slumbering samurai spirit of the highly impressionable Japanese.

In the 1930s Japan greatly expanded its military footprint largely for economic reasons in an attempt to create a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." This time it is driven by the realisation that Japan can only be truly secure by preparing to defend the waters and territories beyond its own immediate area.

What we are seeing here is the de facto rise of a "Greater East Asia Co-Security Sphere." 

Putin's main historical legacy may be to unleash the dragon of Japanese militarism again. Where this leads is anyone's guess.

Cartoon showing Russian delegates surrendering territory
to the Japanese emperor after the Russo-Japanese War.