China urges Japan to respect neighbors’ security concerns
Print Edition
JAPAN yesterday took a dramatic step away from its post-war pacifism by ending a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since 1945, a move that has riled China and worries many Japanese voters.
The change, the most dramatic shift in policy since Japan set up its post-war armed forces 60 years ago, will widen Tokyo’s military options by ending the ban on exercising “collective self-defense,” or defending a friendly country even though Japan itself is not under attack.
Abe’s cabinet adopted a resolution outlining the shift, which also relaxes limits on activities in United Nations-led peacekeeping operations and “grey zone” incidents short of full-scale war, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters.
Abe said the shift is needed to protect the lives of the Japanese people in an “increasingly severe” security environment. Japanese warships would be able to help protect US ships that were defending Japan, he said.
“Peace is not something you expect to be given, but it’s something that we must achieve on our own,” he said.
The new policy has angered China, whose ties with Tokyo have frayed due to a maritime row, mistrust and the legacy of Japan’s past military aggression.
“People cannot but question whether Japan will change the peaceful development path it has long stuck to since the end of World War II,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a news conference in Beijing.
“China opposes the Japanese fabricating the China threat to promote its domestic political agenda,” he said.
“We demand that Japan respect the reasonable security concerns of its Asian neighbors, prudently handle the relevant matter, not to harm the national sovereignty and security interests of China and not to undermine regional peace and stability,” Hong said
South Korea, like Japan allied with the US, but still aggrieved about Tokyo’s 20th century colonization of the Korean Peninsula, said it will not accept any change in policy affecting its security unless it gives its agreement.
The shift, however, will be welcomed by the US, which has long urged Japan to become a more equal alliance partner.
Abe, who took office in 2012 promising to revive Japan’s economy and bolster its security posture, has pushed for the change — which revises a longstanding government interpretation of the charter — despite wariness among ordinary Japanese.
Some voters worry about entanglement in foreign wars and others are angry at what they see as a gutting of Article 9 by ignoring formal amendment procedures. The charter has never been revised since it was adopted after Japan’s 1945 defeat.
On Sunday, a man set himself on fire near a busy Tokyo intersection after speaking out against Abe’s re-interpretation of Article 9.
While Abe spoke yesterday, thousands of protesters, including pensioners, housewives and employees just leaving work, gathered near the premier’s office in Tokyo carrying banners and shouting: “Don’t destroy Article 9,” “We’re against war” and “No more Abe.”
“For 70 years, Japan has kept its peace with its constitution,” said 67-year-old protester Toshio Ban. “What are we to do with that stupid man trying to trample over the precious constitution?”
Written under the United States’ direction after World War II, the 1947 constitution states that the Japanese people “forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation.”
The article was crafted to prevent a repeat of Japan’s invasion and brutal occupation of wide swaths of Asia.
“After this bill is enacted, Japanese soldiers could be sent abroad to fight foreign wars — we don’t want that,” said Yoshiharu Uchinuma, 62, an artist and farmer, wearing a helmet saying “9 No War.”
Legal revisions to implement the change must be approved by parliament and restrictions could be imposed in the process.
Precisely how the change might work in practice remains unclear, though it is likely to ease the path to joint military exercises with countries other than the US.
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