Japan Wants Rearmament

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 06, 2002

Japan Wants Rearmament

On Nov. 21, Japan's major media simultaneously reported an explosive news: Japan would launch a surveillance satellite next year, the first time that Japan itself would launch a military-purposed satellite...

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On November 21, Japan's major media simultaneously reported an explosive news: Japan would launch a military-purpose surveillance satellite (some media call it a "spy satellite") next year. Reports say the satellite system, composed of four satellites, will incessantly monitor any corner of the Earth round-the-clock. The satellite is free from weather restriction, and can distinguish one meter-large object on the ground. This is the satellite linked up to military purpose to be launched by Japan itself for the first time, its main role is to help Japanese authorities to collect more military information. After the news was disclosed, some international observers pointed out that Japan's launch of a spy satellite to exercise independent surveillance over the space is obviously a move to expand its military activities. Many personages of peace feel worried about Japan's future military development trend.

A Country Capable of Launching War

Taking the "September 11" incident as an opportunity, Japan has stepped up its efforts for military armament under the pretext of "counter-terrorism". Making use of the "suspicious ship incident" occurred last December in the southwest sea area of Japan, Tokyo fanned up domestic crisis sentiment by crying aloud that "the wolf has come!"; at the same time, it has speeded up the pace of enacting related laws.

Some Japanese scholars point out that since the 1990s, the Japan-US security defense system and the action of Japanese Self-defense Forces are undergoing a qualitative change. Japan is flagrantly prepared to regard "capability to participate in war outside the country" as the basic standard for national actions, Japan is faced with "readiness to go to war" under the Japan-US security defense system. This is expressed in three aspects: First is establishing a combat posture in the base of US military forces stationed in Japan; second is "readiness to go to war" in regard to the actions of armed forces, for instance, Japan realized its Self-defense Forces' "setting out at wartime" in its support of US offensive against Afghanistan; third is to enact law in light of its "three bills emergence legislation on war contingencies", this shows Japan is advancing step by step from a peace country to a "country capable of launching war".

In fact, making Japan "a country capable of launching war" is the long-cherished wish of the postwar regime of the Liberal Democratic Party. Historically, Japan has since 1950 begun to rearrange its armament, in 1954, it established, in a disguise way, the Self-defense Forces, which was actually its Army. Before the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations, Japan pursued a policy of hostility toward China. After the beginning of the 1990s, it was a very clear trend that Japanese authorities broke through the restriction of the Constitution. In 1992, Japan passed the PKO (the UN peace-keeping operation) law on allowing it to send troops to overseas, this law became the foundation for "legislation on war contingencies"; in 1997, it set down the new guideline for Japanese-US defense cooperation; in 1999, it passed the law on "the situation in neighboring areas", under which China's neighboring area was regarded as Japan's. In the "situation in neighboring areas", it is stipulated that Japan can provide "rear area support" to the actions of US military troops, thus paving the way for Japan to take coordinated actions with US troops even when it did not sustain direct attacks.

Japan is a country good at using external pressure to unify domestic opinions. After the occurrence of an incident at any time, Japan, including the media, would incite a sense of crisis. Following the "September 11" incident", Japan immediately passed the "Law on Special Measures to Deal with Terrorism", in which it is stipulated that the scope of supplies for ships can reach a wide area, including the Indian Ocean, the Gulf and Australia.

For a long time, Japan has had the tradition of associating with the strong. After the bubble economy emerged in the early 1990s was ruined, Japanese authorities, making use of the nationalist trend of thought in society, intensified their efforts to break through the forbidden zone of the Constitution under the Japan-US military alliance. Discarding its "defensive" principle, Japan brazenly admitted that the Self-defense Forces could use force overseas. Reports said in the year ending October this year, Japan sent a total of 16 escort vessels and supply ships and provided 200,000 liters of fuel to British and American warships.

The process from the redefinition of Japanese-US security defense system to the institution of the Japanese-US defense war-ready system, from the group self-defense right's "violation of the Constitution" to the new interpretation of "not violating the Constitution", from the expansion of Japan's security defense area to the narrowing down of the area stipulated by the Constitution-all demonstrates Japan's constant breakthrough of the forbidden zone of the Constitution and the major change in its defense policy.

Long-term Struggle between Protecting and Revising the Constitution

The current "Constitution of Japan" is called Japan's "peace constitution". .The peace constitution is mentioned in relevance to the old "Constitution of Japanese Empire". After the conclusion of WWII, Japan had the experience of democratization (although it was not thorough). Japan's new Constitution was published in November 1946 and formally took effect on May 3, 1947. The new Constitution takes "the sovereign right resides in the people, pacifism, respect for basic human rights" as the keynote, Article 9 of which is the most famous and the easiest to arouse discussions. How to interpret Article 9 of the Constitution has always been the focal point of controversy between those advocating revising the Constitution and those advocating maintaining the Constitution in Japan.

Article 9 of Japan's Constitution stipulates: "The Japanese nationals sincerely seek international peace based on justice and order, they will forever give up the use of national power to wage war, or resort to threat of force or the use of force as a means for settling international disputes. To achieve the aim mentioned above, they do not maintain the land, naval and air forces and other forces of war, they do not acknowledge the country's warring right." The reason why the Japanese regard the Constitution as a "peace constitution" is based mainly on Article 9.

Due to historical and present factors, there exists long-term struggle between the advocates of revision of the constitution and the advocates of protection of the constitution: the latter is composed mainly of the Social Party (Social Democratic Party) as well as people's organizations, while the former includes many Diet men of the Liberal Democratic Party and some right-wing organizations.

In the opinion of the advocates of protection of the Constitution, it is precisely because Japan has the peace Constitution that does not rely on the threat of force to settle disputes, so no one has been killed in war over half a century after WWII, nor has Japan gone abroad to kill people there. In the past, Japan waged a wrong war, committing aggression against many Asian countries and killing many of their people. This peace Constitution was generated out of introspection of the past and the determination to avoid repeating the same mistake. The Constitution states that the right to a peaceful life is the most valuable property to be passed down to the future generations.

According to Constitution-revision advocates, the current Constitution was imposed on Japan by the victorious countries during the occupation age when national sovereignty was subjected to limitation. The contents of the Constitution do not conform to Japan's culture and tradition. Article 9, in particular, "interferes with a sovereign state in its due possession of the power and function to cope with contingencies." The same advocates impute the collapse of nationals' moral concept, the neglect of education and the increase in crimes to the Constitution, they also assert that Article 9 of the Constitution interferes with the "need to undertake duties" by Japan as a member of the international community.

Compared with a dozen years or so ago, there has been great change in the Japanese understanding of the Constitution. According to a survey on Japan's public opinion conducted last year, the number of people agreeing to revising the Constitution began to surpass those protecting the Constitution, and the number of people favoring Article 9 of the Constitution also decreased dramatically. A Japanese lecturer with Utsumiya University expressed the view that the potential reason for this trend is that Japan's neo-nationalism is rearing its head. He pointed out that in the change of the international economy emerged after the 1990s, the depression of Japan's economy has tarnished the image of "Japan as an economic power", many people try to find a way out through revising the Constitution. In order to exert influence on the international community, there is the need to liberate the Army (Self-defense Forces) from the discussions on the Constitution. The lecturer said "if we give up the ideals contained in Article 9 of the Constitution and do not want to clear Japan's war responsibility, and instead pursue only national centripetal force, that will undoubtedly mean abandonment of freedom".

Another factor affecting the right deviation of Japanese society is the "theory of ordinary country". The term "ordinary country" is taken from the book "The Plan for Japan's Reform", written by the chief of Liberal Party. He said, briefly stated, "ordinary country" means that "the Japanese should also act like an adult, he should logically shoulder his appropriate responsibility and play his role in the international community". The "ordinary country" the Liberal Party chief refers to here means that Japan should take the lad to settle international disputes by the use of force.

Prospect of the Peace Constitution Unpredictable

Taking the 50th anniversary of the enactment of the Constitution as the opportunity, Japan established the "Promoting the Set-up of the Constitution Investigation Committee Members Union" in May 1997. The union is composed mainly of the Diet men of the Liberal Democratic Party and Democratic Party, including Nakasome Yasuhiro, Takishita Nooru, Toshiki Kaifu, Hata Tsutomu. The Union stated that there are many contradictory phenomena generated by Japan's reality and the current Constitution, so they advocate revising the Constitution. Under their agitation, Japan's House of Representative and Senate set up the "Constitution Investigation Committee" in January 2001. In essence, the committee is an "investigation committee for the revision of the Constitution" Its members talk about "international contributions", "the re-definition of the Japanese-US security defense", asserting that revising the Constitution is Japan's due responsibility..

Not long ago, head of the "Constitution Investigation Committee" of the House of Representatives said that the current Constitution was written under the occupation of US troops, and it was then translated into the Japanese language. With regard to Article 9, he said discussion should be held on the legal system relating to contingencies in reference to the Basic Law (Constitution) of Germany (that basic law takes aggression, natural disaster and economic panic as the three major contingencies). Report say, many Diet men, while commenting on the "theory of imposition", pointed out that it is not necessary to revise the Constitution simply because it is said to be something "imposed" on Japan, and no sound arguments are presented to prove that the Constitution is "outdated".

It is noteworthy that those within the Liberal Democratic Party who favor revision of the Constitution have formed a new "national defense faction" and got the support from the Mitsubishi Group and other military industrial enterprises. In the Diet, besides some factions of the Liberal Democratic Party who have set out to formulate plan for revising the Constitution, some people in the Democratic Party and the Komeito Party also indicated that it was permissible to revise Article 9. It is said that the Democratic Party is likely to advance from "discussing the Constitution" to "revising the Constitution". The boundary between "revision of the Constitution" and "protection of the Constitution" originally existing in society is disappearing, the distinction between the right and the left wings has become blurred. With the Constitution revising faction gaining the upper hand, Japan is in fact undergoing a transition toward working out a draft for a new constitution, the prospect of Japan's current Constitution is unpredictable.

Nevertheless, we should say that approval of Article 9 of the Constitution is presently still the mainstream of the Japanese society, the majority of the ordinary people support the Constitution. In addition, it is not easy for the advocates of revising the Constitution to realize their aim. Institutionally speaking, revising the Constitution needs to be passed by a two/thirds majority at the Diet and to be approved by over half of the nationals at the time of voting.

As to the question how should one live in the 21st century, the Japanese are faced with a new choice. Should they choose the pre-war wrong national policy, or should they make unremitting efforts to settle disputes through dialogs? One Japanese scholar says rearmament will not necessarily bring peace and security to Japan, establishing relations of trust with neighboring countries is the only greatest guarantee of peace. What Japan needs at present is not to prepare for war, but to make flexible use of Article 9 of the Constitution and push forward peaceful diplomacy.

This article, Inciting National Sentiment of Crisis, Speeding up Revision of the Peaceful Constitution", was written by Global Times' special correspondent Sun Dongmin stationed in Japan and was translated by People's Daily Online

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