While a direct conflict between CCP run China and the USA and its allies may still be far away, the Trump administration views a rearmed Japan as a key lynchpin pin pushing back on Beijing’s yearning for global conquest.
This has led to a long term military drill in the South China Sea. This drill is meant to send a clear message to the Chinese Regime in Beijing.
Japan provides more than a regional bulwark against an aggressive China. The Japanese culture up until its defeat in World War Two was a merger religious fanaticism and a military designed to destroy and defeat its enemies. This made it deadly for China and its weaker neighbors.
Part of the outcome of Japan’s defeat was creating a passive Japan at the expense of particular aspects of Shinto culture. It also had to give up a forward military.
Trump has now given the ability for the Abe administration in Tokyo to expand its military once again. For China, this brings back a painful reminder of what a remilitarized Japan may have in store for it.
It may also spark an increased adversarial response from the CCP.
We are in the early stage of the new Cold War. A remilitarized Japan is a gamble. Some cultural echoes often times have the ability to metastasize into something far worse than the original. Of course this is part of the psychology that the Trump administration is playing on.
Regardless if it works for containment, a militarized Japan may help to deleverage the US army’s need for taking on China by itself. Then again, a remilitarized Japan may turn into something else altogether.