On March 24 established was the JSDF Joint Operations Command, a key organ of preparation for wars, integrating the three military wings of the Ground, Maritime and Air Self Defense Forces of Japan (SDF). The Japan-US military alliance has ushered into a new height, focusing on ‘an emergency around Taiwan’. The new entity will provoke China, which will exacerbate the current tensions further in the East Asian region.
UNIFIED MILITARY POTENTIAL WILL BE BOOSTED
Preparations to establish the Joint Operations Command began along the National Defense Strategy provided in the so-called three national security documents (announced in December 2022). The concept is that commanders of the Joint Staff shall be independent as military officers so that they could command the three branches of the SDF. It is because these commanders might be extremely busy with responding to natural disasters and etc., since they assist the Minister of Defense, and so they must cope solely with warfare.
Sincere parliamentary debates are absent
Its office is placed inside the Ministry of Defense, located in Ichigaya, Tokyo. Previously proposals had been made for the office’s location, for instance, in the US Yokota Base, where US Command Office is placed, or the US Yokosuka Naval Base. As is seen, the basic idea was to integrate military potentials of the two nations.
In April last year the two allies had a summit meeting when they agreed on ‘a review of the commanding mechanism between the US forces and the JSDF’. Then-President Biden highly appreciated the accord, defining it as ‘the most significant revitalization of the US-Japan Alliance since its foundation’. It is, in fact, an epoch-making event during the lapse of 70 years from the conclusion of the US-Japan Security Treaty.
Let’s look at, however, a fact that parliamentary debates were almost absent during the last ordinary session of the Diet: a law, the Establishment of the Ministry of Defense Act, a basis for setting up the new command office, must have been debated for its revision. But revisions were simply made to be approved with the overwhelming majority. Even the Constitutional Democratic Party has agreed with amendment, which is totally a mistake.
Since then, processes have advanced forward: the US representatives presented a plan last July in the US-Japan 2+2 meeting to reorganize the Command Office of the US Forces stationed in Japan into the Joint Military Forces Command. The two parties agreed on making clear the command- and-control mechanism between the two military bodies. Authority for operational command pertained to the Indo-Pacific Force in Hawaii was shifted to the US Command in Japan. It was graded up to facilitate its thorough linkage as a counterpart of the SDF’s JOC.
Unification of two forces is fait de accompli
The Trump administration faithfully inherits the renovated bilateral alliance completed during the Biden Government. In the Joint Declaration announced last February specified are improvements of the commanding and controlling framework of the bilateral forces, and of rapid response through practical training and maneuvers. Unification of the two military forces is a fait de accompli.
The biggest scale of the Keen Sward joint exercise was held last autumn, assuming a real war. During February and March this year a maneuver to defend the isolated islands were staged with participation of 4,000 personnel. A commander of the US Marines explicitly told that it was time to further integrate the Ground SDF and the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade.
In early April defense leaders of the two countries will have a meeting, and another 2+2 meeting is planned to be held soon. They will discuss practical linkage of commanding mechanism accompanied with foundation and reorganization of the JJOC.
戦争準備の要となる陸海空自衛隊の統合作戦司令部が３月24日発足した。「台湾有事」をにらんで日米軍事同盟は、新たな段階に入った。中国を挑発し、東アジアの緊張が更に加速するだろう。
陸海空三自衛隊の統合作戦司令部設置準備は、「安保三文書」（２０２２年12月）の「国家防衛戦略」に基づいて始まった。防衛相を補佐する統合幕僚監部は自然災害対応などにも忙殺され、戦時に対応できないので、「武官」としての作戦司令官を独立させ三自衛隊を実戦指揮させるものだ。
ほとんど議論なく
司令部は東京・市谷の防衛省に置かれたが、設置場所の候補に当初は在日米軍司令部のある横田基地や米海軍横須賀基地が上がったように、日米軍事一体化が前提とされた。
日米は、昨年４月の首脳会談で「米軍と自衛隊の指揮系統見直し」で一致、バイデン大統領（当時）は「日米同盟が発足して以来最も重要な日米同盟の更新だ」と高く評価した。日米安保条約締結から余年で画期となる事態なのである。
ところが、統合作戦司令部設置のための「改正防衛省設置法」は、昨年の通常国会でほとんど議論もなく圧倒的多数で成立してしまった。立憲民主党まで賛成したことは、致命的な誤りである。
以降、昨年７月の日米安全保障協議委員会「日米２＋２」では、横田にある在日米軍司令部を「統合軍司令部」として再編成する考えが米から示され、「日米の指揮・統制構造の関係を明確にする」ことで合意した。ハワイのインド太平洋軍が持つ作戦指揮権を在日米軍司令部に与えて格上げし、自衛隊「統合作戦司令部」のカウンターパートナーとして連携の強化を図った。
一体化は既成事実
トランプ政権もバイデン政権時の「日米同盟の更新」を継承する。今年２月の日米共同声明は「自衛隊と米軍のそれぞれの指揮・統制枠組みの向上…実践的な訓練及び演習を通じた即応性の向上」をうたった。日米の軍事一体化は既成事実となっている。
昨年秋には実戦を想定した最大規模の日米共同演習キーンソードが、今年２～３月には４０００人が参加して「離島防衛訓練」が行われ、米海兵隊の指揮官は「陸自と水陸機動団との統合を深める節目」と明言した。
４月上旬の日米防衛相会議と、近く予定される日米「２＋２」で、統合作戦司令部の発足・再編に伴う指揮系統連携の具体化が協議されるとみられる。
英訳版↓
No.1396 Established Joint Operations Command
On March 24 established was the JSDF Joint Operations Command, a key organ of preparation for wars, integrating the three military wings of the Ground, Maritime and Air Self Defense Forces of Japan (SDF). The Japan-US military alliance has ushered into a new height, focusing on ‘an emergency around Taiwan’. The new entity will provoke China, which will exacerbate the current tensions further in the East Asian region.
UNIFIED MILITARY POTENTIAL WILL BE BOOSTED
Preparations to establish the Joint Operations Command began along the National Defense Strategy provided in the so-called three national security documents (announced in December 2022). The concept is that commanders of the Joint Staff shall be independent as military officers so that they could command the three branches of the SDF. It is because these commanders might be extremely busy with responding to natural disasters and etc., since they assist the Minister of Defense, and so they must cope solely with warfare.
Sincere parliamentary debates are absent
Its office is placed inside the Ministry of Defense, located in Ichigaya, Tokyo. Previously proposals had been made for the office’s location, for instance, in the US Yokota Base, where US Command Office is placed, or the US Yokosuka Naval Base. As is seen, the basic idea was to integrate military potentials of the two nations.
In April last year the two allies had a summit meeting when they agreed on ‘a review of the commanding mechanism between the US forces and the JSDF’. Then-President Biden highly appreciated the accord, defining it as ‘the most significant revitalization of the US-Japan Alliance since its foundation’. It is, in fact, an epoch-making event during the lapse of 70 years from the conclusion of the US-Japan Security Treaty.
Let’s look at, however, a fact that parliamentary debates were almost absent during the last ordinary session of the Diet: a law, the Establishment of the Ministry of Defense Act, a basis for setting up the new command office, must have been debated for its revision. But revisions were simply made to be approved with the overwhelming majority. Even the Constitutional Democratic Party has agreed with amendment, which is totally a mistake.
Since then, processes have advanced forward: the US representatives presented a plan last July in the US-Japan 2+2 meeting to reorganize the Command Office of the US Forces stationed in Japan into the Joint Military Forces Command. The two parties agreed on making clear the command- and-control mechanism between the two military bodies. Authority for operational command pertained to the Indo-Pacific Force in Hawaii was shifted to the US Command in Japan. It was graded up to facilitate its thorough linkage as a counterpart of the SDF’s JOC.
Unification of two forces is fait de accompli
The Trump administration faithfully inherits the renovated bilateral alliance completed during the Biden Government. In the Joint Declaration announced last February specified are improvements of the commanding and controlling framework of the bilateral forces, and of rapid response through practical training and maneuvers. Unification of the two military forces is a fait de accompli.
The biggest scale of the Keen Sward joint exercise was held last autumn, assuming a real war. During February and March this year a maneuver to defend the isolated islands were staged with participation of 4,000 personnel. A commander of the US Marines explicitly told that it was time to further integrate the Ground SDF and the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade.
In early April defense leaders of the two countries will have a meeting, and another 2+2 meeting is planned to be held soon. They will discuss practical linkage of commanding mechanism accompanied with foundation and reorganization of the JJOC.
March 26, 2025