[War] Japan: "Quiet Measures"

[Ian Martell]

"Quiet Measures"
Prime Minister Shunichi Sato
Japan
April 3rd 2013
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Sato poured himself a drink from the sideboard in his office and turned back to the other men in the room. “Help yourself,” he said as he carried his drink over to his desk and sat down. 

As a few of the Ministers went over to the sideboard he loosened his tie and took a long pull from the scotch in his glass. It burned pleasantly down his throat and he savoured it and the moment of calm he had while he was drinking it. He had been furious since he heard the news. If he had his way he would have lined the six men who had been arrested for the attempted bombing against the wall and had them summarily executed. But clearly, he did not have his way, and while intellectually he was aware of that and that the moderate course, embracing the community that had spawned these deviants and working with the more progressive Muslim countries in the region was smart way to go, the effective way, the emotional side wanted blood. He was drinking now to drown that part, because deep down he knew as much as unleashing the might of Japan on her enemies might feel good for a little while, in the end it would do more harm than good.

He finished his drink and set down his glass with a loud clink on the glass surface of his desk. 

All eyes turned to him.

“We have managed the public side of these affairs,” he said after a moment. “Let’s now deal with the other side.”

The assembled men nodded and those who were standing sat down. Sato looked to the Minister of Justice and the Director of Koancho.

“Intelligence gathering?”

Minister Mochida looked over at the Director of Koancho, Japan’s most active intelligence agency that handled affairs both at home and abroad.

“Obviously it is too early for any firm plans to have been made, but tomorrow, I will be sitting down with the domestic section chief and looking at cultivating informants in Japan’s Muslim community.”

Sato nodded. “I assume we don’t have any?” he asked.

The Director shook his head. “No Prime Minister.”

Sato frowned but stopped short of asking why that was. “Internationally?”

“We have taken some effort to set up contacts in Malaysia and Indonesia in order to keep an eye on our interests there, but in general we have very few Islamic contacts.”

“I would like you to see about expanding the numbers and have a proposal ready for the Security Council in the next couple of weeks.”

The Director nodded. “Yes sir.”

Sato turned to the rest of the men in the room. “Now, since the war diplomacy has always been our weapon of choice and I think it will continue to be in this conflict. As such here is what I propose: we privately encourage our Muslim allies to follow Indonesia’s example and take firm action with the groups and individuals in their countries that participate in terrorism.”

“By encourage you mean?” asked the Foreign Minister.

Sato smiled. “I don’t mean threaten, well, I don’t mean it as our default position, but if it comes to it, then yes. Ideally I would like to give them a friendly shove, one coupled with whatever support we can provide.”

“Including military?” asked Inukai, the Minister of Defence.

“Yes, but I would like to avoid Japanese troops getting into combat if at all possible, it should be the countries themselves dealing with these people not us, but if they need arms or technical support, I am open to making agreements.”

“From a political perspective, shouldn’t we make a more of our support?” asked Inukai.

Sato shook his head. “You know the American political adage; you can get a lot done if you don’t take credit for it that is us. Besides we want our allies to be able to save face and make it look like this was something they came to us about, and we decided to help them, not the other way around. We don’t do ourselves any favours if we make our allies look weak.”

Minister Jonouchi smiled. “I agree sir, if the progressive Muslim governments are shown to be weak in the eyes of the world it empowers those who would otherwise oppose them.”

Sato nodded. “Now, our forces in the Straight of Malacca,” he said to Inukai. 

“On high alert, we’ve cancelled leaves, and the commanders are implementing higher security while in port.”

“Talk to our allies, I’d like permission for Japanese troops to secure our ships while they’re in port.”

Inukai nodded. “I assume you’d like it done quietly.”

“Yes, Minister to Minister if you can, I’ll deal directly with the leaders of those countries if it comes to it.” 

“Yes Prime Minister,” Inukai said.

“Lastly I have a project for all of you, I would like us to start compiling a master list of those involved in terrorism. I would like to reach out to all our allies and gather a list of the players starting with the financers and work our way down to people like the six we arrested in Tokyo.”

“That will take awhile,” said the Director of Koancho.

“Then it will take awhile, our enemies are patient and so we will have to be.”

“To what end?” asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“So we know who our enemies are,” Sato said. “It’s the only way we will be able to win.”

Actions:

1>	Koancho’s domestic and foreign arms will begin recruiting contacts in the Muslim community both at home and abroad.
2>	Japan will informally encourage it’s Muslim allies to take a harder line on terrorists and offer them whatever assistance or pork is required (with approval of the PM first) and if that doesn’t work, Japan will lean on them more heavily, however the objective is to leave the governments of these countries looking strong.
3>	Security on the Japanese forces in the Straight of Malacca will be increased until further notice, including requesting the host countries to allow Japanese security forces on base.
4>	Koancho, Foreign Affairs, Justice and Defence will begin a comprehensive list of members of terrorist organizations starting with the financers which will be compiled by contacting allied intelligence agencies.

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