Photo/Illutration Kenneth Weinstein, the Japan chair at Hudson Institute, during an interview with The Asahi Shimbun on Oct. 2 in Washington D.C. (Ryo Kiyomiya)

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's commentary to a U.S. conservative think tank shortly before assuming his new leadership position has caused a stir. 

His views include advocating for the creation of an "Asian version of NATO" and other measures.

Therefore, The Asahi Shimbun on Oct. 2 interviewed Kenneth Weinstein, the Japan chair at Hudson Institute, which posted Ishiba’s commentary titled, “The Future of Japan’s Foreign Policy” on its website on Sept. 27.

Weinstein described Ishiba’s take as “an outside-the-box idea.”

Ishiba contributed the commentary before he was elected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The Hudson Institute asked each of the nine LDP presidential candidates to share their views on the future of Japan's foreign policy. 

In the commentary, Ishiba expressed doubt about the functioning of the U.S. nuclear umbrella and wrote, “The Asian version of NATO must also specifically consider America’s sharing of nuclear weapons or the introduction of nuclear weapons into the region.”

Ishiba also referred to the idea of stationing the Self-Defense Forces in the U.S. territory of Guam by revising the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and the Status of Forces Agreement.

Weinstein is an expert who was nominated by former U.S. President Donald Trump to be ambassador to Japan. But the U.S. Senate process was delayed and his appointment was never confirmed. 

Weinstein said Ishiba “is an outside-the-box thinker” and “is willing to raise issues, whether publicly or privately, that others have been, are too timid to ask.”

About the commentary, Weinstein said, “Ishiba has lifted the veil on some very sensitive issues, which though some here in Washington may find it irritating, helps us to kind of dig down deeper on some very thorny questions.”

Particularly resonant in the commentary was a proposal for the creation of an Asian version of NATO.

Weinstein points out the difficulty of applying the core of NATO, which is collective defense, which treats an attack on one country as an attack on the whole, to Asia.

Weinstein said that the most difficult part is dealing with the Taiwan contingency.

“There are tens of thousands of questions that need to be asked about burden sharing, about who goes to bat for whom,” Weinstein said.

On the other hand, in light of China’s increasingly aggressive stance, Weinstein said that it is worth considering it as a long-term goal, adding that, “Even if we know that this alliance is not going to happen possibly in my lifetime or period.”

There is strong resistance on the U.S. side to revising the Status of Forces Agreement.

Weinstein said that the handling of crimes committed by U.S. military personnel should not be the main focus of the Status of Forces Agreement discussion.

Weinstein sees the idea of stationing the SDF on Guam as “the most feasible and worth exploring.”

However, he stated that it would be necessary to persuade the U.S. side that the stationing would lead to the strengthening of the Japan-U.S. alliance and Guam's deterrence capabilities.

After the commentary was published on the think tank’s website, it added a proviso, stating that it is “Ishiba’s personal opinion as a member of the Diet and does not necessarily reflect his view as the next prime minister.”

Weinstein said this was because there were some misunderstandings that people might think that the Japanese government had suddenly adopted these policies.

“We wanted to make sure people understood that this was his view as a candidate, which is not necessarily his view as prime minister,” he said.

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