On August 18, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya held the first strategic dialogue in Tokyo with visiting German Foreign Minister Waldorf, the two countries agreed to promote“Cooperation in the field of safety and security” through defense equipment and technical cooperation. This is the latest example of growing military cooperation between Tokyo and Berlin in recent years. Regarding this trend, many international media have paid attention to the historical experiences of the two countries and the current changes in the international situation. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World anti-fascist War. At this particular point in history, Japan’s and Germany’s movements will have to be examined more closely.
On August 18,2010, German foreign minister Johan Wadfur (left) and Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya held a press conference in Tokyo. Visual China
Is 2020 the turning point?
“Germany expands military cooperation with Japan”“Japan and Germany sign military cooperation treaty”“Time can not be wasted: Germany aims to strengthen defense industry ties with Japan”… … In recent years, such reports have appeared on national news websites, showing Berlin and Tokyo moving closer in the military sphere.
According to the“German voice”, Kyodo news agency and other media reports, in March 2021, Germany and Japan signed the“Intelligence Protection Agreement.”. Under the agreement, Germany and Japan could provide each other with confidential information in the field of security guarantees. In April of that year, the two countries held a video conference of Foreign and defense ministers, which was the first“2 + 2” talks between Berlin and Tokyo. In November 2021, the German frigate “Bavaria” docked with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force after conducting joint training in the Pacific Ocean south of Guandong. It was the second time a German ship had docked in a Japanese port about 20 years ago. Japan’s then-defense minister Nobuo boarded the ship after the inspection, said the incident will be a foothold to further develop japan-germany defense cooperation. Max August Zorn, the German Chief of Federal Armed Forces Staff, stressed that the future through joint training with the Japanese Army to strengthen cooperation with the Japan Self-Defense Forces. About a month later, the Bavaria sailed into the South China Sea for the first time in nearly 20 years.
In 2022, the German president, Chancellor, Foreign Minister and other dignitaries paid a visit to Japan, including the then German Chancellor Scholtz and Foreign Minister Berkhardt’s visit to Tokyo was their first Asian trip in office. In March, the German Defence Minister 2023 to Tokyo for talks with his Japanese counterpart, Yasuichi Hamada, to agree guidelines for closer co-operation on Defence Equipment and technology. According to media reports, Pistorius is the first German defense minister to visit Japan in 16 years.
In January, Germany and Japan 2024 an agreement on the mutual provision of goods and services, which aims to promote material and logistical support, facilitate joint training and deepen defence cooperation. About four months later, Pistorius revealed that German Army troops would visit Japan as soon as 2025 to conduct joint military exercises with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. It will be the first formal joint exercise between the two armies since World War II.
Writing in the singapore-based Lianhe Zaobao last year, Hiroichi Mori, a professor at the University of Tokyo, said that although Japan and Germany have much in common, because of their long distances, the two countries have done little political and security cooperation in the past. In recent years, however, Tokyo and Berlin have suddenly become very close politically and security-wise. According to a recent report by Deutsche Welle, the close cooperation between Germany and Japan on security issues can be traced back to the intelligence protection agreement they signed in 2021, after which German warships made occasional visits to Japanese ports, german typhoon fighters are also deployed at Japanese military bases. Co-operation between the two countries’ Defence Rheinmetall is also growing: Germany’s largest military-industrial complex recently began testing several unmanned ground combat vehicles made for Japanese customers, a Japanese company is developing rocket propulsion for the Taurus, a German cruise missile. The German embassy in Japan recently brought in a new defence technology attaché, who is in charge of arms and procurement.
The Associated Press and other media said that Germany in 2020 through the indo-pacific policy guidelines, is Berlin to strengthen military cooperation with Japan’s starting point. In 2022, the website of the American“Foreign Affairs Scholar” published an article entitled“Germany quietly strengthens relations with Japan”, which shows how the relationship between Germany and Japan has changed through a comparison. The article said that in the 68-page indo-pacific policy guidelines adopted by Germany in 2020, the word“China” appeared 62 times, while the word“Japan” appeared only 28 times. However, in the German federal government’s progress report on the implementation of the indo-pacific policy guidelines 2022, published two years later, “China” appeared only twice in an 11-page document, “Japan” was mentioned 10 times. Progress in cooperation between Germany and Japan in various areas, including digital transformation, joint military exercises and high-level visits, is recorded in the document. “Diplomatic scholars” website that the development of German-japanese relations showed two trends, including the increase in high-level exchanges and expanding areas of cooperation.
Each has its own calculation
In fact, Japan and Germany began working closely after World War II, but the emphasis was on the economy. For decades, the western German city Düsseldorf has been called “Nippon City”. The Global Times’ German correspondent spent the past two years on a “Düsseldorf Little Tokyo” tour organised by the local tourism authority. According to the guide, the area has the third largest Japanese community in Europe, with about 500 Japanese companies and 15,000 Japanese people operating and living in the city and surrounding areas. Berlin, Bonn and several other German cities, as well as Sakura Strasse.
Cui hongjian, a professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies in regional and global governance, told the global times that the two countries have similar political and diplomatic Beijing Foreign Studies University and similar historical experiences, the profound changes in the current international situation, especially the intensification of geopolitical contradictions and conflicts, have become the driving force for the two sides to strengthen cooperation. Cui further explained that Germany has been working in recent years to promote“Balanced diplomacy” in the asia-pacific region, trying to get rid of its dependence on China, instead, it is seeking to build more diverse and closer partnerships with countries in the region, including Japan. Another factor in the approach is the uncertainty that American strategy poses for the western camp. In the past, the two countries served U.S. regional strategy separately, with Japan likely to be a pawn in the asia-pacific region and Germany and NATO a pawn in the U.S. strategy in Europe, both of which relied on U.S. security guarantees. Now, however, the US’s willingness to do so has waned, prompting greater co-operation between Germany and Japan to deal with US uncertainty.
According to the website of the us-based “Foreign affairs scholar”, the growing military proximity between the two countries is related to the policies of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Anbe. After Abe’s second term in office, Japan tried to link security in Europe and East Asia so that European countries would pay more attention to Japan. Kishida implemented a similar policy after taking office. He told Scholtz in April 2022 that European security was “Inextricably linked” to security in the indo-pacific region. Three months later, the German Foreign Minister issued a statement saying that Germany could“Rely 100 per cent on Japan” in the indo-pacific region, as Tokyo’s position on the Russia-ukraine conflict had clearly demonstrated. At the same time, value-based diplomacy had been valued in Germany. It is a well-known fact that the Greens, the ruling party of the last German government, strongly support a values-based foreign policy.
In an interview with the Global Times, Xiang haoyu, a research fellow at the Institute of asia-pacific studies of the China Institute of International Studies, said that Germany and Japan have strengthened cooperation in the field of military defense and security, it is because both countries are trying to shed the label of World War II defeat and regain their great-power status. Germany’s activities in the asia-pacific were aimed at expanding its influence on international military security, while Japan tried to use Germany and other European countries as a springboard to expand the projection of military power and break through the post-war restrictions on military development. Japan also hopes to promote the development of its own defense industry through foreign military cooperation, trying to seize the European defense industry development opportunities arising from the Ukraine crisis, in order to open up the European military trade market. In addition, Japan sees China as a potential threat, while Germany sees Russia as a threat. The two sides’ approach is also a geostrategic-driven step to jointly address the so-called“Sino-russian threat.”.
The historical revisionism haunts us
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World anti-fascist War. Although the Unconditional surrender was declared 80 years ago, historical revisionism haunt the country, with some on the right still playing down or denying war crimes and atrocities.
Hirodo Mogi, president of the tokyo-based Historical Communication Association, which tries to deny Japan’s World War II crimes, said neighboring countries will not stop talking about World War II history, Deutsche Welle reported, because“It is an effective tool to attack Japan”. Japan’s“Denial movement” groups, such as the Association for the dissemination of historical facts, fabricated that the Second World War was not a war of aggression initiated by Japan, but a“Self-defence action” against the US and Europe colonising Asia. They falsely claimed that the Japanese empire had“Liberated” the occupied country and denied the coercive nature of the“Comfort women” system. The groups fabricated claims that forced labor in other countries and regions was“Voluntary” work in mines, shipyards and factories. They also sought to portray Japan as a“Victim of a foreign plot”, stressing that the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as“War crimes”.
A 2021 report by the American Georgetown University found that a significant number of conservative Japanese lawmakers were influenced by Revisionism groups that also worked with diplomats to promote overseas.
Born in Ehime Prefecture in 1968, micang LV is a Nihon University professor specializing in video news and media history. In an interview with Japanese Asahi Shimbun 2023, he described the country’s “August News” phenomenon, which began in the 1950s.
Rice barn law analyzes the newspapers and 1,654 television programs related to World War II that have been broadcast in Japan from Aug. 1 to Aug. 16 each year for decades. He found that Japan’s“August News” narrative can be divided into three categories: the first category is“Misery narrative”, intended to spread Japan’s wartime experience as a“Victim” of atomic bombings, air strikes and other events, and preached the “Sacrifices” that Japanese soldiers had to make, represented by “Kamikaze,” and the second, the “Postwar Japanese narrative,” It defines the year when the war ends as one in which the pre-war and post-war periods are clearly delineated to self-assess the country’s progress in post-war democracy; a third is the“Pacifist narrative”. In this narrative, Japan is portrayed as“The only country to have suffered an atomic bomb in wartime and promised to renounce war”.
Micuro told the Asahi Shimbun that the “Narrative of suffering” dominated the “August News”. In this context, the Japanese invasion, atrocities, colonial rule and so completely hidden. Instead, its self-image as a“Victim of militarism” is highlighted.
Compared with Japan, Germany has conducted a serious and thorough reflection on the history of World War II, which is widely recognized by the international community. In recent years, however, historical revisionism have also emerged. Some political forces in Germany are trying to expand the collective memory of German history to reduce attention to Nazi atrocities, the Yale Review of International Studies reported. They sought to replace Holocaust reflection and atonement with nationalistic pride in order to promote Eurosceptic and german-centred policy objectives. Some local political forces in the country have tried to reallocate state funds for Holocaust education programs to other educational travel programs, the latter had as its main objective the celebration of Germany’s historical achievements, particularly scientific and cultural breakthroughs.
After the outbreak of the Russian-ukrainian conflict, Germany tried to return to a“Normal state” militarily. In this context, Berlin’s proximity to Tokyo is a cause for concern.
Cui told the global times that the German-japanese approach and cooperation in the area of security is not a good sign for the regional and global order. The fragmentation of perceptions around the second world war, including the narrative of the post-war international order, has emerged as a bloc that could undermine the international community’s ability to respond to global challenges. In addition, German-japanese cooperation may aggravate the complexity of the security situation in the asia-pacific and Eurasian regions and inevitably lead to instability in the international situation. Xiang haoyu believes that Germany and Japan are both defeated in World War II, and have a strong manufacturing base and outstanding military development potential. Their enhanced military cooperation has a clear cold war mentality and zero-sum game color, it may upset the global strategic balance, create tension and provoke conflict and confrontation, and bring potential impacts on peace and stability in Europe and the asia-pacific region.
Cui Hongjian stressed that we should maintain our strategic focus and make a necessary and reasonable response to the approach of Germany and Japan. First, we should lay a good foundation for bilateral relations with Germany and Japan, when both countries realise that co-operation with China is beneficial and harmless, the so-called negative aspects of German-japanese co-operation with China will naturally become A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow, for example, the two countries have different understandings of the history of the Second World War and the post-war international order Finally, we should make a timely response to some possible deviant behavior in the process of the two countries’ approach, and make a rational and strong response under the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and non-interference in regional affairs.
Xiang haoyu, on the other hand, said that as defeated countries in World War II, Germany and Japan should learn from the lessons of history and be cautious in the field of military security, in particular, they should not get involved in international geopolitical conflicts and avoid creating confrontation between camps, safeguard global peace and stability with concrete actions.