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It has been a long time since WWII. The children born following the war are starting to retire in their 60s. The Veterans of the War are getting less and less every year.
And the situation has changed (reversed prehaps). With China now seen as the possible Imperialist-expansionist power and Japan as the stagnent one. The Western Powers are still in play, but not in the colonial/imperialist sense anymore. The Americans are the closest to that and they (as then) are more interested in free trade than anything else.
The locals don't have the firepower nor manpower to hold of China if it ever got the notion to go full on Imperialist. The only edge they might get is if Japan rearms. They still won't have the manpower to hold the Chinese off, but they will probably have the technological advantage to make up for it. Add to this the Americans, and you have enough to keep the Chinese from going Imperialist since it would be too costly (economically first, then in manpower and lands after the war gets going).
The Americans are still the main defense force in the region, but I imagine the locals would want to have their defense more local in nature. Japan can provide that extra strength so they don't need the Americans as much.
But it will take time to rearm Japan to the levels "needed" to face off against the Chinese without nuclear weapons. Japan is mostly defensive in nature. They lack offensive punches to counter the Chinese if something happens. The simple ones would be fitting out their ships with cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles. Similar with aircraft. It is just need more and that takes construction time and money.
The hope of course is that it will not be needed. But I've suggested rearming Japan for years now. If only so we don't need our troops deployed there to defend them in case of invasion. US troops have been there in one fashion of another since 1945. nearly 70 years later, maybe we can allow Japan to defend herself again?
I'm not sure if the South Koreans will like this idea. They and Taiwan are generally against anything military involving Japan it seems. Especially if Japan reverts to any nationalistic vibes.
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