Mr. Trump was sworn as President of the United States again on January 20. He is lucid, saying that ‘the golden age of America begins right now’. Meanwhile, Japan will certainly be forced to make ‘further’ contributions in the arena of national security.
POLICY OF PIVOT ON US-JAPAN ALLIANCE MUST BE REVERSED
Contrary to the anticipation of many people, Mr. Trump has overwhelmingly won in the presidential election in 2024, which enabled him to return to the top position of the superpower. Allegedly, what the second-term Trump administration will request Japan will be much more critical than that was done during the Democratic administration led by President Biden.
In the past the US governments have explicitly demanded Japan to owe more military spending, to buy more US goods and increase official aids to developing nations to disrupt China.
Japan has developed, obeying the US
The successive governments of Japan led by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have maintained the posture, submitting faithfully to the US appeals. Approval of the right of collective self-defense and the revisions in the three documents on national security – these have been typical epoch-making examples. Japan has depended on the US in terms of the export market. Energy and raw materials have been supplied from the countries which have been reigned by the US. Under these circumstances, subordination to the US has been vital for the Japan’s ruling class.
Japan has successfully achieved rapid economic growth after WWII, recovering fully from the war-torn land and becoming an economic power in which ‘all of 100 million people lead a medium-class level life’. It has been a taboo not only for people in the business sector and conservative politicians but also those political elites to be against the ‘US-Japan pivot’ strategy.
World structure has been changing
The world, however, has been changing drastically. The West, namely the US-G7 group, has occupied the central position militarily and economically until now. Lately the Global South, represented by BRICS, has experienced high economic growth and their total GDP has exceeded that of the G7.
Traditional suppliers of natural resources have advanced forward, leaving the control of the US due to the latter’s decline in its influence.
The US has held almost a half of the world’s wealth in the history and reigned the rest of the world with her powerful military strength. But today, due to its deterioration of power, allied nations have been forced to owe heavier financial burdens that cannot be compared with those in the past.
There is no difference between the Republican Party and Democratic Party as far as this reality is concerned. This fact has produced a doctrine, ‘America first’, which causes tensions in the international relations.
Wealth is fruit of people’s sweat
Many events from the US-Japan trade negotiation on textile in the past to the recent interference of the US government in the plan to acquire U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel mean mobilization of wealth, an outcome of people’s sweat, for the sake to support the US economy and ensure gigantic multi-national corporations with enormous wealth.
The thirty years that Japan has lost is found in this context. President Trump requests G7 nations to spend 3% of the respective GNPs in the military expenditure.
Japan must shake herself free from total dependance on the US which causes exhaustion of people and brings a risk of war so that a path for the future can be hopeful.
トランプ氏が１月20日、米国の大統領に再び就任した。「米国に再び黄金時代をもたらす」とトランプ氏は意気軒高で、日本は安全保障面などこれまで以上の「貢献」を強いられること必至だ。
大方の予想に反してトランプ氏が大統領選で圧勝し、超大国の権力の座に復帰した。第二次トランプ政権が日本に求めてくるのは、バイデン民主党政権の比ではないと言われる。
米政権は、日本にもっと軍事的な負担をせよ、もっと米国製品を買え、中国の影響力をそぐために途上国への援助をもっと増やせと露骨に要求してきた。
対米従属下で成長
歴代の自民党政権は、唯々諾々とこれらを受け入れてきた。集団的自衛権行使の容認や、安保三文書の改定はその大きな節目であった。米国に製品輸出を依存し、エネルギーや原材料の供給元も米国支配下の諸国であったという条件を背景に、対米従属が日本の支配層にとって必要不可欠とされてきたからだ。
日本は戦後、高度経済成長を成し遂げ、「１億総中流」と言われる経済大国にのし上がった。「日米基軸」への敵対は、財界や保守政治家のみならず、政治エリートにとっても「タブー」とされてきた。
世界の構造が変化
しかし、世界は大きく変わっている。これまで世界の経済・軍事の中心であった米国・Ｇ７の「西側」より、ＢＲＩＣＳ（ブリックス）を中心としたグローバル・サウスが高い成長を示し、ＧＤＰがＧ７を凌ぐまでになっている。
これまでの資源供給国だった国々も米国の影響力低下によって、傘下から離脱しつつある。
米国はかつて世界の富の半分を占め、強大な軍事力で世界を支配した。しかし力の低下によって、支配の継続のために同盟国が過去とは比較にならない規模の負担をしなければならなくなった。
その現実に共和党も、民主党も違いはない。これが「米国第一」を必要とし、世界を緊張させている要因である。
民衆が汗した富を
過去の日米繊維交渉から今日の日本製鉄のＵＳスチール買収に対する米政権の介入は、民衆が汗した富を米国経済の支えに動員し、多国籍大企業に巨万の富を保証するものだ。
日本の失われた30年はその中にある。トランプ大統領は、Ｇ７に軍事費をＧＤＰ比３％にするよう要求している。国民の疲弊と戦争の危機を増大させる米国依存一本足の日本から抜け出さなければ、未来はない。
英訳版↓
No. 1387 Mr. Trump’s Second Term begins
Mr. Trump was sworn as President of the United States again on January 20. He is lucid, saying that ‘the golden age of America begins right now’. Meanwhile, Japan will certainly be forced to make ‘further’ contributions in the arena of national security.
POLICY OF PIVOT ON US-JAPAN ALLIANCE MUST BE REVERSED
Contrary to the anticipation of many people, Mr. Trump has overwhelmingly won in the presidential election in 2024, which enabled him to return to the top position of the superpower. Allegedly, what the second-term Trump administration will request Japan will be much more critical than that was done during the Democratic administration led by President Biden.
In the past the US governments have explicitly demanded Japan to owe more military spending, to buy more US goods and increase official aids to developing nations to disrupt China.
Japan has developed, obeying the US
The successive governments of Japan led by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have maintained the posture, submitting faithfully to the US appeals. Approval of the right of collective self-defense and the revisions in the three documents on national security – these have been typical epoch-making examples. Japan has depended on the US in terms of the export market. Energy and raw materials have been supplied from the countries which have been reigned by the US. Under these circumstances, subordination to the US has been vital for the Japan’s ruling class.
Japan has successfully achieved rapid economic growth after WWII, recovering fully from the war-torn land and becoming an economic power in which ‘all of 100 million people lead a medium-class level life’. It has been a taboo not only for people in the business sector and conservative politicians but also those political elites to be against the ‘US-Japan pivot’ strategy.
World structure has been changing
The world, however, has been changing drastically. The West, namely the US-G7 group, has occupied the central position militarily and economically until now. Lately the Global South, represented by BRICS, has experienced high economic growth and their total GDP has exceeded that of the G7.
Traditional suppliers of natural resources have advanced forward, leaving the control of the US due to the latter’s decline in its influence.
The US has held almost a half of the world’s wealth in the history and reigned the rest of the world with her powerful military strength. But today, due to its deterioration of power, allied nations have been forced to owe heavier financial burdens that cannot be compared with those in the past.
There is no difference between the Republican Party and Democratic Party as far as this reality is concerned. This fact has produced a doctrine, ‘America first’, which causes tensions in the international relations.
Wealth is fruit of people’s sweat
Many events from the US-Japan trade negotiation on textile in the past to the recent interference of the US government in the plan to acquire U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel mean mobilization of wealth, an outcome of people’s sweat, for the sake to support the US economy and ensure gigantic multi-national corporations with enormous wealth.
The thirty years that Japan has lost is found in this context. President Trump requests G7 nations to spend 3% of the respective GNPs in the military expenditure.
Japan must shake herself free from total dependance on the US which causes exhaustion of people and brings a risk of war so that a path for the future can be hopeful.
January 22, 2025