Trump's rhetoric is now starting to worry Japan
TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's portrayal of Japan as a free-rider on security is stirring worries in Tokyo about damage to its U.S. alliance, and could embolden hardliners keen to bolster Japan's military in the face of a rising China.
The U.S.-Japan alliance has been the lynchpin of Tokyo's security policy for decades, but worries have simmered in recent years as to whether Washington will continue to be willing and able to defend its key Asian ally.
Comments from the Republican Party frontrunner have done little to allay those fears.
"If somebody attacks Japan, we have to immediately go and start World War III, okay? If we get attacked, Japan doesn't have to help us," Trump said at a campaign speech late last year. "Somehow, that doesn't sound so fair."
Trump has also accused Japan of stealing jobs and criticized the U.S.-led 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact that Tokyo sees as vital for strategic as well as economic reasons.
"If you listen to his comments (on security), the United States would become isolated so I think there is great anxiety for allied countries," Itsunori Onodera, who served as defense minister under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, told Reuters.
Last year, Abe spent considerable political capital enacting controversial legislation that allows Japan's military to defend friendly countries under attack, a major reinterpretation of the country's pacifist constitution.
"It is incumbent on Japan to protect itself and its defense is necessary for the alliance to be maintained in the best possible posture," said a source close to Abe.
Outdated vision
Abe also wants to formally revise the post-war charter to further loosen limits on military action overseas.
"Most people consider Trump bad news, but for those who want to revise the constitution and strengthen the military, it actually provides a boost for their position," said a former Western diplomat still in touch with Japanese policymakers.