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| Royal Australian Navy Canberra class LHD |
By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.
WASHINGTON: America’s most powerful allies in the Pacific, Australia and Japan, are building up their amphibious forces, buying amphibious vehicles, V-22 aircraft and big new warships. While far smaller than the Marine Corps, the Australian and Japanese units could assist America in stabilizing the region and deterring China — if they can overcome their self-imposed limitations. Japan is preparing for high-end warfare against China, but only in its backyard; Australia is ready to operate more broadly, but not at the high end.
For the first time since 1945, Japan’s military will have the capability to cross the sea, storm a defended beach, and seize an island. That is enough to unnerve both Imperial Japan’s former victims and Japan’s own pacifist mainstream.
It’s true that Japan reinterpreted Article 9 of its Constitution to permit “collective self-defense” actions beyond its own territory. Nevertheless, Tokyo insists the new amphibious regiment — ultimately to grow to a brigade — exists only to retake Japan’s outlying islands from any aggressor (i.e. China) who might seize them. So the challenge with Japan will be coaxing the island nation to employ its new amphibious forces more widely across the Pacific region, for example to assist the militarily fragile Philippines.
“Our amphibious brigade is designed to defend our territory, not the South China Sea,” emphasized Col. Masashi Yamamoto, the Japanese army attaché in Washington, when asked about a potential South Pacific mission at the Center for Strategic and International Studies yesterday.
Australia poses the opposite problem. Its amphibious efforts are all about projecting power beyond its territory. In fact, it was the logistical difficulty of sending and sustaining a modest peacekeeping force in East Timor in 1999 that awakened Australian policymakers to the need for more amphibious capability.
Read the full story at Breaking Defense