"Rendering the 'Most Severe and Complex' Security Guarantee Environment, Japan Passes New Version of the Ministry of Defense Establishment Law"

[Global Times Report, Journalists Xing Xiaojing and Liu Xin] The Japanese Senate voted on June 26 to pass the revised "Ministry of Defense Establishment Act" and related bills, which include rebranding the Air Self-Defense Force as the "Aerospace Self-Defense Force" and adding deputy ministers of defense. Scholars interviewed by the Global Times stated that this marks a key step for the government of Sanae Takaichi on the path of military expansion, revealing its expansionist ambitions.

According to a report by Kyodo News on the 26th, the Japanese "Aerospace Self-Defense Force" will officially be established this year, at which point a "Space Operations Group" will be newly formed, commanded by senior officials of the Air Self-Defense Force, as a dedicated space force to advance satellite launches, space situational awareness, and surveillance capabilities. This is the first change in the organizational name of the force since the establishment of the Air Self-Defense Force in 1954.

The revised "Ministry of Defense Establishment Act" also includes increasing the number of deputy ministers of defense to two, expanding the scope of reemployment assistance for retired Self-Defense Force personnel, and raising the standards for the distribution of subsidies to retired Self-Defense Force members. Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi claimed, "These measures are essential for adapting the organization to the most severe and complex security environment since the war."

In addition, to strengthen the defense system in Japan's southwestern region, the new law will upgrade the 15th Brigade of the Ground Self-Defense Force, based in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, to a division.

Military expert Song Zhongping stated on the 26th to the Global Times that Japan's reorganization of the Aerospace Self-Defense Force essentially replicates the U.S. military's path in building space forces, and it is not ruled out that the air and space systems may be split into independent entities in the future.

Song Zhongping believes that this reform is a substantial move by Japan to break through the principle of "defense only" and continuously undermine the essence of the pacifist constitution. Japan's attempt to incorporate space into military operations and establish a dedicated space force means that its operational scope is expanding from traditional airspace to space, breaking the institutional constraints imposed by the post-war international legal system and the pacifist constitution on its military development. Regional countries and the international community should remain highly vigilant and resolutely curb the signs of the revival of Japanese militarism, jointly safeguarding the hard-won post-war and Heisei achievements.