00:00Japan is making some big changes to its navy, announcing it will reorganize its surface units into a single fighting
00:06force.
00:07That unit would include its escort and mine-sweeping fleets.
00:11It would coordinate with ground troops to defend Japan's southwest islands, the part of the country closest to Taiwan.
00:18Japan is also setting up a new unit to counter cyber and cognitive warfare.
00:22It comes amid calls by Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae to strengthen Japan's military as it faces tensions with China.
00:31For more on the new changes in Japan's self-defense forces, our reporter Larry Isiano spoke with defense analyst Bryce
00:39Barrows.
00:39He's a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, or INDSR.
00:46Can you elaborate a little bit more on what exactly this reorganization means and what it signals moving forward?
00:51I mean, basically, these reforms have been in the pipeline for a couple of years in terms of wanting to
01:00transform the JSDF from a more obvious in the name self-defense force to one that's actually much more combat
01:09capable and being able to do things on cybersecurity came up within those reforms,
01:14but also wanting to counter disinformation, information manipulation, that sort of thing, right?
01:20And that's certainly relevant in places like, you know, Kagoshima and Okinawa.
01:25A few months ago, Japan announced the S.H.I.E.L.D. program, which is called Synchronized, Hybrid, Integrated,
01:33Enhanced Latorial Defense.
01:35That all lines up to a military force that's really focused on how does it defend southwest islands near Taiwan.
01:43Given that Taiwan and Japan face many of the same concerns when it comes to Chinese aggression or Chinese threats,
01:49cybersecurity disinformation campaigns, islands that are closer to China that are difficult to defend, how do you think these two
01:55sides can collaborate moving forward?
01:56There's a lot more area for collaboration between Taiwan's own security services and the Japanese.
02:03I'm assuming a lot of that, you know, counter cognitive warfare thinking will go into what the character of this
02:11new agency will be versus what currently exists at the moment.
02:15So, yeah, there could be a lot of collaboration on those things, for example, you know, Japan's National Police Agency
02:21or I'm using that because they have intelligence functions given before the reforms right now that you're seeing working together
02:29with the Taiwan's Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau.
02:32Not talking about that per se, but more sort of like broader sort of like law enforcement concerns that go
02:38into that, which, you know, bleeds into China's sort of united front work, wanting to use different causes for their
02:46own sort of end goals just becomes very opportunistic for China to want to get involved in some of those
02:52things.
02:53When you look at plans like this, what is the role of the U.S. or what influence does U
02:57.S. have in pushing it forward?
02:58I think a lot of what you might see are surrounding that specifically would be things related to whatever the
03:05United States feels comfortable sort of not necessarily allowing the Japanese to engage into, but the Japanese are very sensitive
03:13to the U.S. alliance.
03:14If they feel that that's an okay thing to sort of pursue within the context of the U.S. alliance
03:22and understanding that Taiwan is tied to Japan's own security,
03:26then I can see there being more cooperation on that front.
03:29None of this stuff is outside the realm of possibility or realm of being hush-hush, but the sort of
03:36more institutionalized cooperation, I think, is something to keep an eye out for.
03:41But I'm not sure if you will get an equivalent of a Taiwan Relations Act from Japan.
03:48That was Bryce Barrows from INDSR.
03:50That was Bryce Barrows from INDSR.
03:50That was Bryce Barrows from INDSR.
03:51That was Bryce Barrows from INDSR.
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