The Slow Death of Japanese Techno-Nationalism? Emerging Comparative Lessons for China's Defense Production

Abstract

Japan's defense production model is often portrayed as an exemplar of techno-nationalism, but can it serve as a model for China to follow in pursuit of technological military catch-up? Japan in the past has exploited civilian industrial strengths to create a defense production base with footholds in key technologies. However, Japan's defense production model is now displaying structural limits – constrained defense budgets, deficient procurement management, limited international collaboration – with the risks of civilian industry exiting the sector, the loss of even basic competency in military technologies, and the consequent weakening of national security autonomy. Japan's case thus offers emerging comparative lessons for China to study in what to do and not to in pursuing civilian–military integration.

Key Words:

• Defense Production
• Techno-nationalism
• Kokusanka
• Political Economy
• JSDF
• Japan
• China

Notes

¹For the paradigmatic work on Japan's techno-nationalism, see Richard J. Samuels, Rich Nation, Strong Army; National Security and the Technological Transformation of Japan (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP 1994). Other key works include: Reinhard Drifte, Arms Production in Japan: The Military Applications of Civilian Technology (Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1986); Michael E. Chinworth, Inside Japan's Defense: Technology, Economics and Strategy (Washington DC: Brasseys 1992); and Michael J. Green, Arming Japan: Defense Production, Alliance Politics, and the Postwar Search for Autonomy (New York: Columbia UP 1995).

²For a very insightful comparison between China and Japan, see Tai Ming Cheung, Fortifying China: The Struggle to Build a Modern Defense Economy (Ithaca NY: Cornell UP 2009), 227–34.

³Bōeichōhen, Nihon no Bōei (Tokyo: Zaimushō Insatsukyoku 2006), 395.

⁴Bōei Nenkan Kankōkaihen, Bōei Nenkan 2010 (Tokyo: DMC 2010), 521–4.

⁵‘Defense News Top 100 for 2009,’ Defense News, <http://defensenews.com/static/features/top100/charts/rank_2009.php?c=FEA&s=T1C>.

⁶Bōeishō, Bōei Seisan, Gijutsu Kiban, April 2010, 5, <www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/shin-ampobouei2010/dai5/siryou1.pdf>.

⁷Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengōkai Bōei Seisan Iinkai, Waga Kuni Bōei Sangyō no Genjō Nado ni Tsuite, 13, presentation provided by personal contact at DPC, July 2007; Bōeishō, Bōei Seisan, Gijutsu Kiban.

⁸Asahi Shimbun Jieitai 50nen Shuzaiha, Jieitai Shirarezaru Henyō (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha 2005), 263.

⁹Bōeishō, Bōei Seisan, Gijutsu Kiban, 4.

¹⁰Chinworth, Inside Japan's Defense, 52–5.

¹¹Samuels, Rich Nation, Strong Army, 294–7.

¹²Bōeishō, Bōei Seisan, Gijutsu Kiban, 10; Keizai Sangyōshō, Bōei Sangyō ni Tsuite, April 2010, 9, <www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/shin-ampobouei2010/dai5/siryou2.pdf>.

¹³Arthur Alexander, Of Tanks and Toyotas: An Assessment of the Japan's Defense Industry (Santa Monica, CA: RAND 2003), 44–8.

¹⁴Bōeichō, Nihon no Bōei (Tokyo: Zaimushō Insatsukyoku 2006), 395.

¹⁵ Bōei Handobukku 2010 (Tokyo: Asagumo Shimbunsha 2010), 350.

¹⁶Harrison M. Holland, Managing Defense: Japan's Dilemma (New York: UP of America 1988), 34–5.

¹⁷Bōei Nenkan Kankōkaihen, Bōei Nenkan 2010 (Tokyo: DMC 2010), 345–7.

¹⁸Bōeishō, Waga Kuni no Bōei to Yosan, Heisei 21nendo Yosan no Gaiyō, 23, <www.mod.go.jp/j/library/archives/yosan/2009/yosan.pdf>.

¹⁹Sunohara Tsuyoshi, Tanjō Kokusan Supai Eisei: Dokuji Jōhō to Nichibei Dōmei (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha 2005).

²⁰Bōeishō Uchū Kaihatsu Riyō Iinkai, Uchū Kaihatsu Riyō ni Kansuru Kihon Hōshin ni Tsuite, 15 Jan. 2009, 4, 6, <www.mod.go.jp/j/info/uchuukaihatsu/pdf/kihonhoushin.pdf>; Uchū Kaihatsu Senryaku Honbu, Uchū Kihon Keikaku, 2 June 2009, <www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/utyuu/keikaku/keikaku_honbun.pdf>.

²¹For Japan's space defense industry, see Saadia M. Pekkanen and Paul Kallender-Umezu, In Defense of Japan: From the Market to the Military in Space Policy (Stanford, CA: Stanford UP 2010).

²²Bōeishō, Bōeishō Kaikaku Kaigi Dai4kai Setsumei Shiryō; Bōeishō, Dai4kai Bōeishō Kaikaku Kaigi Sankō Shiryō, 1 Feb. 2008, <www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/bouei/dai4/pdf/siryou2.pdf>.

²³‘Bōeichō amakudari ōi kigyō juchū mo mashi,’ Shimbun Akahata, 12 April 2006, 15; Shūkan Kinyōbihen, Mitsubishi Jūkō no Seitai: Kokusaku Bōei Kigyō (Tokyo: Kinyōbi 2008), 26–32.

²⁴Bōeichōhen, Bōei Hakusho 2006 (Tokyo: Ōkurashō Insatsukyoku 2006), 276–80; Nakatani Gen, Daremo Kakenakatta Bōeishō No Shinjistu (Tokyo: Gentōsha 2008).

²⁵For a full analysis of Japan's defense industry scandals, see Christopher W. Hughes, Japan's Remilitarization (London: Routledge 2009), 67–72.

²⁶Bōeichō, Chōtatsu Kaikaku Gutai-teki Sochi, <www.mod.go.jp/j/library/archives/chotatu/soti/soti.pdf>.

²⁷Nihon Keizai Dantai, Waga Kuni Bōei Sangyō, 32.

²⁸Bōei Nenkan Kankōkaihen, Bōei Nenkan 2010 (Tokyo: DMC 2010), 519.

²⁹For the Acquisition Reform Promotion Project Team's full reports, see Japan Ministry of Defense, <www.mod.go.jp/j/approach/others/equipment/sougousyutoku/index.html>.

³⁰‘Sensuikan: Hajimete no Juchū Kyōsō e, Mitsubishi to Kawasaki Zōsen “Ichinen Kōtai” Zushiki Kuzure, Bōeishō Hacchū,’ Mainichi Shimbun, 15 Dec. 2010, <http://mainichi.jp/select/seiji/news/20091215dde041020017000c.html>.

³¹Bōeishō Kaikaku Kaigi, Hōkokushō: Fuyōji no Bunseki to Kaikaku no Hōkōsei, 15 July 2008, <www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/bouei/dai11/pdf/siryou.pdf>.

³²For the background to the introduction of the arms export bans, see Andrew L. Oros, Normalizing Japan: Politics, Identity and the Evolution of Security Practice (Stanford, CA: Stanford UP 2008), 90–122.

³³Keizai Sangyōshō, Bōei Sangyō ni tsuite, 8 April 2010, 16, <www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/shin-ampobouei2010/dai5/siryou2.pdf>.

³⁴Bōei Sangyō Gijutsu Kiban Kenkyūkai, Bōei Sangyō Gijutsu no Iji Ikusei ni Kansuru Kihon-teki Hōkō: Nijū Isseiki ni okeru Kiban no Kōchiku ni Mukete, Tokyo, Nov. 2000, 10.

³⁵Chinworth, Inside Japan's Defense, 127, 137.

³⁶For the full outcome of the FSX, see Mark Lorell, Troubled Partnership: A History of U.S.–Japan Collaboration on the FSX Fighter (Santa Monica, CA: RAND 1995).

³⁷Keidanren, ‘IFSEC Joint Report: Revised U.S.–Japan Statement of Mutual Interests’, 21 Jan. 2003, <www.keidanren.or.jp/japanese/policy/2003/005e.html>.

³⁸‘Japan, US Plan Drone R&D Study’, Japan Times, 22 Feb. 2010, <http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20100222a6.html>; ‘US Urges Japan to Export SM-3s', Japan Times, 25 Oct. 2009, <http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20091025a6.html>.

³⁹Bōei Kenkyūjo, Waga Kuni no Bōei Gijutsu Kiban ga Sōbihin Shutoku ni oyabasu Kōka ni Kansuru Chōsa Kenkyū (Tokyo 2006), 34.

⁴⁰Handa Shigeru, Bōei Yūkai: Shinshin Naki Nihon no Anzen Hoshō (Tokyo: Junpōsha 2010), 182–90.

⁴¹Junichi Nishiyama, ‘Nihon no Bōei to Gijutsu Kaihatsu’, in Morimoto Satoshi (ed.), Kiro ni Tatsu Nihon no Anzen: Anzen Hoshō, Kikikanri Seisaku no Jissai to Tenbō, (Tokyo: Hokuseidō 2008), 353.

⁴²For example, see Defense Policy Studies Subcommittee, National Defense Division, Policy Research Council, Liberal Democratic Party, ‘Recommendations on Japan's New Defense Policy: Toward a Safer and More Secure Japan in the World,’ 30 March 2003, <www.jimin.jp/jimin/main/seisaku.html>; Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengōkai Bōei Seisan Iinkai, Teigen: Kongo no Bōeiryoku Seibi no Arikata ni tsuite’: Bōei Seisan Gijutsu Kiban no Kyōka ni Mukete, 2004, reported in Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengōkai Bōei Seisan Iinkai, Bōei Seisan Gijustu Kiban ni Tsuite: Kokunai Kiban no Jūjutsu to Kokusai Kyōryoku, Tokyo, Sept. 2005, 6.

⁴³Anzen Hoshō to Bōeiryokyu ni Kansuru Kondankai, Anzen Hoshō to Bōeiryokyu ni Kansuru Kondankai ni Okeru Kore Made no Giron to Gaiyō 2004, 5, <www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/ampobouei/dai7/7siryou1.pdf>.

⁴⁴Bōeishōhen, Bōei Hakusho 2008 (Tokyo: Zaimushō Insatsukyoku 2008), 388.

⁴⁵Richard L. Armitage and Joseph S. Nye, ‘The US–Japan Alliance: Getting Asia Right Through 2020’, CSIS Report, Feb. (Washington DC: CSIS 2007) <www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/070216_asia2020.pdf>.

⁴⁶Jiyū Minshutō Seimu Chōsakai Kokubōbukai Bōseisaku Kentō Shōiinkai, Teigen Shinbōeiseisaku ni Taikō ni Tsuite, 9 June 2009, 13–14, <www.jimin.jp/jimin/seisaku/2009/pdf/seisaku-012.pdf>.

⁴⁷Anzen Hoshō to Bōeiryoku in Kansuru Kondankai, Anzen Hoshō to Bōeiryoku ni Kansuru Kondankai Hōkokusho, Aug. 2009, 64–7, <www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/ampobouei2/090928houkoku_e.pdf>.

⁴⁸‘Minaosu? Buki Yushutsu Sangensoku, Bōeishō wa “Mondai Teiki” to Shakumei’, Asahi Shimbun, 13 Jan. 2010, <http://asahi.com/politics/update/0113/TKY201001120504.html>; ‘Shushō “Buki Sangensoku o Mamoru, Bōeishō Hatsugen o Hihan’, Yomiuri Shimbun, 13 Jan. 2010, <www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20100113-OYT1T00079.htm>.

⁴⁹Council on Security and Defense Capabilities in a New Era, Japan's Visions for Future Security and Defense Capabilities in the New Era: Toward a Peace-Creating Nation, Aug. 2010, 45–7, <www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/shin-ampobouei2010/houkokusyo_e.pdf>.

⁵⁰‘Buki Yushutsu Sangensoku Beikoku Bōchōkan ga Kitaikan’, Asahi Shimbun, 14 Oct. 2010, <www.asahi.com/politics/update/1014/TKY201010140115.html>.

⁵¹‘Buki no Kokusai Kyōdō Kaihatsu, Minshu ga Sanka Yōnin, Bōei Taikō e no Teigenan’, Asahi Shimbun, <www.asahi.com/politics/update/1130/TKY201011290585.html>.

⁵²‘Buki Yushutsu Sangensoku, Minaoshi Meiki Sezu Bōei Taikō, Shamin ni Hairyō’, Asahi Shimbun, 7 Dec. 2010, <www.asahi.com/politics/update/1207/TKY201012070180.html>.

⁵³Bōeishō, Heisei 23nendo ikō ni Kakawaru Bōeikeikaku no Taikō ni tsuite, 17 Dec. 2010, 16, <www.mod.go.jp/j/approach/agenda/guideline/2011/taikou.pdf>.

⁵⁴Bōeishōhen, Bōei Hakusho 2008 (Tokyo: Zaimushō Insatsukyoku 2008), 388; Kankōkai Henshūbu, Bōei Nenkan 2006 (Tokyo: Kankōkai Henshūbu 2006), 147–8.

⁵⁵Kubota Yukari, ‘Japan's New Strategy as an Arms Exporter: Revising the Three Principles on Arms Exports’, RIPS Policy Perspectives, no. 7 (Nov. 2008), 15–16, <www.rips.or.jp/from_rips/pdf/japans_new_strategy.pdf>.

⁵⁶‘Jindō Mokuteki no Sōbi nara Yushutsu Kaikin, Buki Sangensoku no Reigai Kentō’, Asahi Shimbun, 14 March 2010, <http://asahi.com/politics/update/0214/TKY20100212283.html>.

⁵⁷Richard J. Samuels, Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP 2007), 147.

⁵⁸These reports include: Bōeichō, Arata na Jidai no Sōbi Shutoku o Mezashite: Shin ni Hitsuyō na Bōei Seisan Gijutsu Kiban no Kakuritsu ni Mukete, Tokyo, June 2005; Bōei Sangyō Gijutsu Kiban Kenkyūkai, Bōei Sangyō Gijutsu no Iji Ikusei ni Kansuru Kihon-teki Hōkō: Nijū Isseiki ni okeru Kiban no Kōchiku ni Mukete, Tokyo, Nov. 2000; Bōei Kenkyūjo, Waga Kuni no Bōei Gijutsu Kiban ga Sōbihin Shutoku ni oyabasu Kōka ni Kansuru Chōsa Kenkyū, Tokyo, 2006; and Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengōkai Bōei Seisan Iinkai, Teigen ‘Kongo no Bōeiryoku Seibi no Arikata ni tsuite’: Bōei Seisan Gijutsu Kiban no Kyōka ni Mukete, Tokyo 2004.

⁵⁹Asahi Shimbun Jieitai 50nen Shuzaiha, Jieitai Shirarezaru Henyō, 272.

⁶⁰‘Fujijū ga Bōeishō Teisō Heri Hacchū Chūshi de 350okuen Motomeru’, Asahi Shimbun, 15 Jan. 2010, <http://asahi.com/politics/update/0115/TKY201001150358.html>.

⁶¹‘Jieitai Kaihatsuki no Minkan Tenyō e Kentōkai Ryōsan de Kosutogen Hakaru’, Asahi Shimbun, 31 March 2010, <http://asahi.com/politics/update/0115/TKY201003310004.html>; ‘Jieitaiki Minsei Tenyō Kentō Ryōsan de Chōtatsuhi Asshuku’, Yomiuri Shimbun, 2 May 2010, <www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20100502-OYT1T00182.htm>.

⁶²Asahi Shimbun Jieitai 50nen Shuzaiha, Jieitai Shirarezaru Henyō, 269–70.

⁶³Bōei Sangyō, Tettai Aitsugu Yosan Sakugen de Sōbihin no Hacchūgen’, Asahi Shimbun, 24 Aug. 2009, <http://asahi.com/politics/update/0820/TKY2000908200165.html>.

⁶⁴Bōeishō, Bōei Seisan, Gijutsu Kiban, April 2010, 7, <www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/shin-ampobouei2010/dai5/siryou1.pdf>.

⁶⁵Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengōkai Bōei Seisan Iinkai, Bōei Seisan Gijustu Kiban ni Tsuite: Kokunai Kiban no Jūjutsu to Kokusai Kyōryoku, Tokyo, Sept. 2005, 4; Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengōkai Bōei Seisan Iinkai, Waga Kuni Bōei Sangyō no Genjō Nado ni Tsuite, 32.

⁶⁶Samuels, Securing Japan, 148.

⁶⁷‘“Jun-Kokusan” Kōkūki, Ōsora e,’ Asahi Shimbun, 12 May 2007, 13; Seishi Kimura, The Challenges of Late Industrialization: The Global Economy and the Japanese Commercial Aircraft Industry (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan 2007), 134–71.

⁶⁸Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengōkai, Teigen ‘Kongo no Bōeiryoku Seibi no Arikata ni tsuite’: Shiryō, 20 July 2004, 8.

⁶⁹Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengōkai Bōei Seisan Iinkai, Waga Kuni Bōei Sangyō no Genjō Nado ni Tsuite, 33.

⁷⁰Bōeichō, Arata na Jidai no Sōbi Shutoku o Mezashite: Shin ni Hitsuyō na Bōei Seisan Gijutsu Kiban no Kakuritsu ni Mukete, Tokyo, June 2005, 1; interview with Director, Equipment Policy Division, Bureau of Finance and Equipment, Ministry of Defense of Japan, Tokyo, 20 July 2007.

⁷¹David Shambaugh, Modernizing China's Military (Berkeley/ Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press 2002), 239–44.

⁷²Keith Crane et al., Modernizing China's Military: Opportunities and Constraints (Santa Monica, CA: RAND 2005), 155–7, <www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2005/RAND_MG260-1.pdf>.

⁷³Tai Ming Cheung, ‘Dragon on the Horizon: China's Defence Industrial Renaissance’, Journal of Strategic Studies 32/1 (2009), 43–4.

⁷⁴Tai Ming Cheung, ‘The Chinese Defense Economy's Long March from Imitation to Innovation’, The Journal of Strategic Studies 34/3 (June 2011), 325–54.

⁷⁵James Mulvenon and Rebecca Samm Tyroler-Cooper, ‘China's Defense Industry on the Path of Reform’, report prepared for the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Oct. 2009, 38–52, <www.uscc.gov/researchpapers/2009/DGIReportonPRCDefenseIndustry–FinalVersion_withUSCCseal_02Nov2009_2_.pdf>.