Japan Moves to Allow Coast Guard to Defend the Country in a Conflict

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio announced that the government has for the first time started compiling guidelines on procedures for the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) to play a role in the event of a military conflict.

Kishida’s announcement came as more and more politicians and experts in Tokyo are calling for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the JCG to strengthen coordination and cooperation amid China’s growing assertiveness around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China. It also came after the Chinese military launched five ballistic missiles into Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) for the first time during a massive military drill aimed at Taiwan early August. Beijing regards the self-ruled island as a breakaway province to be unified with mainland China.

Speaking to the House of Representatives Budget Committee in late November, Kishida revealed that – in a first for Japan – his administration has begun to formulate so-called control procedures for how the JMSDF and the JCG will carry out coordinated operations in the event of an armed attack on Japan.

Kishida specifically pointed out Article 80 of the Self-Defense Forces Law, which stipulates that the prime minister can bring the JCG under the control of the defense minister if the SDF is mobilized in the event of a military attack on Japan.

“Strengthening cooperation between the JMSDF and the JCG in times of emergency is extremely important for our nation, but it is an issue that has been left unresolved for many years,” Kishida said.

Foreign readers may wonder what this issue is all about, especially because it is a matter of course in many countries for the navy and coast guard to coordinate in the ocean at every possible opportunity. To understand the tangled relationship between Japan’s two maritime services, one needs to turn back the pages of history.

The JCG was established in 1948, three years after the end of World War II, when Japan was still under the occupation of the General Headquarters (GHQ), led by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, supreme commander for the Allied Powers. At the time, both the Soviet Union and China (then governed by the Republic of China government) opposed the establishment of the JCG, claiming that it would lead to Japan's rearmament.

To fend off such oppositions, the GHQ included into the new Japan Coast Guard Law the now well-known Article 25, which stipulates: “Nothing contained in this Law shall be construed to permit the Japan Coast Guard or its personnel to be trained or organized as a military establishment or to function as such.” The law thus makes the JCG a completely nonmilitary organization. The JCG was particularly responsible for crackdowns on smuggling, rescue operations, and, at first, minesweeping in the waters surrounding Japan.

Six years later, in 1954 the JMSDF was established – originally as a spin-off branch of the JCG's minesweeping unit. Since then, the JMSDF has served as Japan’s maritime military service, with the JCG being a law enforcement organization and acting as maritime police. Today, the JMSDF surpasses the JCG in both budget and personnel

In 2018, Tokyo was in for a rude awakening when the China Coast Guard (CCG) came under the command of the Armed Police Force, an organization under the direct control of the Central Military Commission, the Chinese military’s command organ. Cooperation between the CCG and the military has been increasing every year since then, with CCG vessels that navigate in waters surrounding the Senkakus being backed up by China’s navy.

In response to China's aggressive advance into the waters surrounding the Senkakus, the JMSDF and the JCG reportedly plan to conduct a joint drill simulating an armed attack on the islands for the first time. A major reason such joint training has not yet been carried out until now is that the guidelines and government ordinances regarding the transfer of command between the two services have yet to be formulated. The drill will have to come after the control procedure is finalized, but with that process underway it could be held as early as during the current fiscal year (which ends March 31, 2023).

Behind the scenes, there is a robust debate going on over the JCG’s status. Many hawkish politicians and scholars in Tokyo are calling for the revision of Article 25 of the JCG, thus making the JCG a quasi-military organization at least, an apparent response to China’s own organizational restructuring in 2018. They say that under the current law, the JCG can only provide logistical support for the JMSDF even in the case of an armed attack.

Meanwhile, many former JCG officials have stressed that the JCG’s role as a law enforcement agency is meant to prevent direct military clashes and war from happening.

“Is there any merit in changing the Japan Coast Guard from a police agency to a military agency?” Okushima Takahiro, a former JCG Commandant, asked an audience during a speech on December 9 at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.

“I am negative about it. To make the JCG a military agency will bring a great detriment to Japan. It would be a fatal blow for our nation to lose the JCG’s ‘buffering function’ that can prevent the situation from being escalated and help avoid war,” he said.