Newsletter No. 1395
News-Analysis
June 28, 2009

 

SELF-DEFENSE FORCES SEEK “STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP” WITH INDONESIAN MILITARY

The Jakarta Post is reporting a story of substantial interest. On the 25th a seminar was held in the Indonesian capital with the title “TNI and JSDF Cooperation under the New Strategic Partnership.” The term TNI refers to the Tentara Nasional Indonesia or, in other words, the Indonesian military. I was not previously aware that there is a “new strategic partnership” between the SDF and the TNI.

The main Japanese speaker at the event was Jun Honna, a professor of international relations from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. Professor Honna told the audience, “Disaster relief is the key to JSDF-TNI cooperation. JSDF personnel were dispatched to Aceh for about two months after the tsunami in 2004, and to Yogyakarta in 2006 for about fifteen days after the earthquake in 2006.” Honna also stressed the importance of the ASEAN Security Community (ASC): “Indonesia is expected to take a leadership role in ASC. Defense cooperation is the key for the ASC.”

The Indonesian side was represented by Brigadier General Syaiful Anwar, director of international cooperation at the Indonesian Defense Ministry. General Anwar agreed with Honna that “the two countries shared interests and values underlining their strategic partnership.” He also ventured to suggest specific areas for cooperation: “We also expect capacity building in maritime and air patrol capability, as well as maritime surveillance systems. We hope Japan can contribute to the newly established Indonesian Defense University (IDU), as well as in education and training in general.”

After the lecture, Professor Honna clarified to the Jakarta Post that Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution still limits the scope for SDF-TNI cooperation: “We can’t have any military exercise or other operational training for military members, but we can provide training at the strategic level, such as for civilian officials at the Indonesian Defense Ministry.”

The lecture appears to have been fully supported by the Japanese embassy in Jakarta, as Ambassador Kojiro Shiojiri and Defense Attache MSDF Captain Masaharu Sugimoto hosted a reception for the participants in celebration of SDF Day. The Japanese embassy’s deputy chief of mission, Takio Yamada, also spoke briefly at the seminar.

It should be recalled that the SDF has also been active in cultivating a relationship with the Pakistani military, another organization that has had an exaggerated domestic political role and a dubious human rights record. See, for example, Shingetsu Newsletter No. 1061.

COMMENTARY

1) From Christopher Len of the Institute for Security and Development Policy on July 3, 2009:

Commentators have noted the formation of a democratic alliance in Asia consisting of the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India. I am sure there are also some who feel that a newly democratic Indonesia, with its strategic sea-lane position, would fit in this equation. To set this in a wider context, it has been noted that Asian governments are increasingly turning towards Mahan's notion of sea power. [1]

In the case of Japan, a recent document from the third "U.S.-Japan Seapower Dialogue" may shed some light. The event took place on April 17, 2009, and was organized by the Ocean Policy Research Foundation (OPRF) in conjunction with the Pacific Forum CSIS, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), and American Enterprise Institute (AEI). [2] The Executive Summary of the event report reflects three points of interest in relation to this JSDF-TNI "strategic partnership":

(1) "Two new traditionally land-based powers – China and Russia – [are] begin[ning] to turn their attention to the seas."

(2) "Coast guards will play a key role in protecting the oceans. This poses new challenges since coast guards are very different from navies, both in how they act and how they are structured... A 'whole of government' approach is needed."

(3) "The Maritime Self-Defense Forces will be at the center of that effort, but this strategy will rely on all of Japan's maritime related agencies and assets. This strategy should 'maintain and strengthen the existing infrastructure of Japan-U.S. security cooperation in the western Pacific' and develop a new infrastructure for cooperation in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea."

Based on such thinking, we can expect to see more activities between the JSDF and the TNI in the years to come.

Notes

[1] James Holmes and Toshi Yoshihara, "A Chinese Turn to Mahan?" China Brief, Vol. 9 Issue: 13, June 24, 2009; "Chasing Ghosts" The Economist, June 11, 2009; and Robert Kaplan, "Center Stage for the 21st Century: Rivalry in the Indian Ocean," Foreign Affairs, March 16, 2009.

[2] "Relations at Sea: The U.S.-Japan Alliance on the Oceans," Issues and Insights, Vol. 9, No. 9, June 2009.