editorial

As Japan is pushing ahead with the massive restructuring of its armed forces this spring, it recently promoted the "space operations group" belonging to the Air "Self-Defense Force" to the "space operations squadron".

At the same time, the number of personnel of the unit increased more than twice.

A small unit in full charge of outer space was formed in 2020 and its numerical strength has increased dozens of times in just some years. And its name and formation changed into the aforesaid names at an interval of two to three years, arousing a serious concern of the international community about the reality of the rapidly growing Japanese space force.

Not content with this, Japan is reportedly to promote the "space operations squadron" to the "space operations corps" within this year and rename the Japan Air "Self-Defense Force" the Aerospace "Self-Defense Force".

The rapid expansion of the space operations force cannot be seen merely as part of the restructuring of the expanded military force as a whole.

As recognized by the public at home and abroad, Japan has long laid legal, material and technical foundations with the ambition to expand the scope of operations of the "Self-Defense Forces" to space.

Behind the deceptive "bill" on the use of space for peaceful purposes, Japan had been secretly conducting research into spy satellites since the late 1970s. It adopted the "basic law on outer space" in 2008 to allow military use of space under the signboard of "defense". And in 2012 it amended even the clause specifying that aerospace development shall be limited to peaceful purposes, thus removing the legal obstacles to its militarization of outer space.

In 2018, it officially declared outer space a new sphere of defense through the new "defense program" and "midterm defense capability buildup outline", thus further consolidating the legal foundation for the militarization of space.

At present, Japan has an information gathering satellite system capable of monitoring the whole earth for 24 hours through spy satellites. And it has become able to fight even a space war by equipping itself even with the missile technology and missile interception system.

Against this backdrop, the Japanese reactionaries are openly making such bellicose remarks as "the exercise of the right to collective self-defense is possible even in space".

What merits more serious attention is that as the neo-militarist force has become influential in the Japanese political circles these days, the overall military deployment is being adjusted into an offensive form, while threatening moves are being stepped up to take up the position for preemptive attack even in outer space.

In July last year, the Japanese Defense Ministry adopted for the first time the "guidelines for defending outer space" for bolstering up the defense capability in space. Claiming that the satellite development by China and Russia poses a threat to Japan, the guidelines specified that it would accelerate the use of space for establishing the so-called "stand-off defense capability" for attacking enemies from out of their range of fire.

At a meeting of the aerospace development strategy headquarters in December, it decided on a new progress schedule of the master plan for space development stipulating that it shall conduct a verification test to cope with a hypersonic glide weapon in outer space, and engage in the launch of a satellite for grasping the movements of satellites of other countries.

This shows that the Japanese reactionaries are pressing on with the move to develop the space operations force into the one next to the ground, naval and air forces in level and into a typical preemptive attack force in order to hold a military edge in outer space.

This is evidenced by the fact that the Japan Air "Self-Defense Force" has worked out an operations plan and staged actual drills for completing a military posture in space in separate drills or in the US-led bilateral and multilateral military drills in the recent years.

Japan, a war criminal state deprived of the right to have an army, participate in a war and fight a war, has turned the SDF into a full-fledged offensive force in defiance of the international community. Not content with this, it is making desperate attempts to seize control of outer space as its sphere of activity. The reality clearly shows the deep-seated dangerous ambition for reinvasion and endless belligerence of the reactionaries of the insular country.

The international community is strictly watching the reckless space militarization moves of Japan disturbing peace of outer space and the globe.