Asia Defense | Security | East Asia

Japan’s Strategic Pivot: Arms Exports as a Tool of Diplomacy 

How Tokyo is leveraging defense equipment transfers to shape the Indo-Pacific order. 

A computer generated image depicting the future upgraded Mogami-class frigate, which Japan will supply to Australia.

Although highly anticipated, the Takaichi government’s decision to loosen the strict restrictions on defense equipment transfers was, as many have already argued, a turning point in Japan’s security policy. The decision would effectively allow Japan to legally enter the business of arms exports, and, if certain criteria are met, the new rules provide exceptions regarding when and to whom Japan may supply military equipment, including states engaged in armed conflicts. 

Since 1976, Japan has imposed a virtual arms embargo on lethal weapons exports, although the primary motivation appeared to be deflecting criticism from the opposition against the growing momentum within the business community to do the opposite. However, as Ogi Hirohito chronicled in his piece on the background of Japan’s defense equipment transfer policy, such political decisions transformed into a “norm” of Japan’s defense policy. And although there were multiple attempts to loosen such restrictions – notably Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro’s decision to allow the transfer of military technology to the United States in 1983, and Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s push to foster joint development of defense equipment – the prohibition on lethal arms exports was treated as a near-sacred tradition in Japan’s security policy. 

The new rules on arms exports are another iteration of Japan’s changing perception of its security needs. At the same time, they fit the broader pattern of Japan’s gradual effort to exert influence in ways that shape the regional environment.

Since as early as the 1970s, Japan has played an active role in promoting regional cooperation and creating norms, while refraining from the use of force or the transfer of lethal means. In 1977, then Prime Minister Fukuda Takeo announced his signature “Fukuda Doctrine,” in which he articulated his vision for Asia in the post-Vietnam War era. In this statement, he reassured the Southeast Asian nations that Japan would not become a military power and would instead focus on building trusted relationships and contributing to their prosperity. 

In the 1980s, Japan partnered with Australia to help launch the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which has since become an important multilateral platform for the Indo-Pacific region. Since the 1990s, Japan has become one of the foremost advocates of “human security,” an initiative that was partly aimed at compensating for Japan’s weakening economic prowess through norm promotion.

Among the most successful initiatives that Japan has spearheaded is the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) concept, which is widely associated with the late Abe, who........

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