The Kan administration on Dec. 17 endorsed a new National Defense Program Outline, which will serve as a guideline for Japan's defense policy for the next 10 years from fiscal 2011. The guideline has introduced the new concept of "dynamic defense capabilities" focusing on "rapid response, mobility, flexibility, sustainability and multipurpose functions" of the Self-Defense Forces to cope with Japan's rapidly changing security situation.
The first National Defense Program Outline was adopted in 1976, and was revised in 1995 and 2004. The new outline is the nation's fourth defense program outline.
On the surface, the concept appears to only concern the deployment and operation of SDF units. But it can easily lead to a policy of countering a military buildup of other parties like China by building up Japan's military capabilities, while forgetting about using other means such as diplomacy and economic power. It represents a complete departure from the long-standing "basic defense power" concept — the basis for the past and current National Defense Program Outline.
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