This piece in SpyTalk.co, a popular Substack where Founding Editor Jeff Stein and a “team of veteran reporters” provide “original reporting, scoops and analysis on national security topics, with an emphasis on U.S. intelligence operations, both foreign and domestic,” talks about the problems Japan is facing in strengthening its spy program:
“Japan’s efforts to re-arm in response to escalating threats from China and North Korea are well-known. Less understood are controversial efforts by some in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to reestablish world class intelligence and counterespionage capabilities.”
Apart from the resistance that such efforts have historically faced from the public in view of “World War Two memories” of “militarism, neighborhood informants, and other mass spying against the population,” there are geopolitical concerns:
“Though further efforts to consolidate and strengthen Japan’s intelligence and counterintelligence organizations might seem logical in Washington, such plans face significant opposition from those government institutions, politicians, and parts of the business community that support closer relations with Beijing.”
Interestingly, “[t]hose opposed to strengthening intelligence perceive China as rising and America in decline.” The author says that the “prickly challenge” ahead for Washington is “to persuade not only Japanese elites, but the country’s voters, of American resolve, reliability, and support.”
It is yet to be seen if a third, “more independent policy dubbed “autonomous defense,”” advocated by the late Shinzo Abe, is totally out of the window.
Read the full article here.
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