A 2013 version of the Defense White Paper was released. The white paper is published annually and tells about current defense policies and environment. In addition to the White Paper, other relevant materials are essential to analyze security issues of the country, including the Interim Report of the Defense Posture Review.


EXPOSED INTENTION TO SURPASS THE EXCLUSIVELY DEFENSIVE POSTURE


Three Strategies Intensified


The White Paper specifies three major terms; the first is the reinforced alliance with the United States, the second is intensified commitment in dynamic defense strategy which takes off from the passive, defensive stance and the third is global deployment of the Self Defense Forces of Japan (SDF).


The paper explains that in order to integrate the three principles joint exercises with the US military should be enhanced, intelligence and command systems should be shared and the Asia-Pacific defense strategy should be dealt with in terms of the quadrilateral axis of the United States, Australia and South Korea and joint maneuvers should be reinforced with these nations. As for the dynamic defense capabilities, the SDF will be deployed in the southwest region of Japan so that troops may station and conduct war games in the islands region. The government of Japan, taking advantage of diplomatic frictions with China, which secures jurisdiction on the Senkaku (Diaoyu Islands in Chinese) Islands and defends marine interests, and disputes following the launch of a satellite by Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a good excuse, attempts to arrange the SDF troops and equipment.


At the same time the government plans to deploy the SDF globally, responding to the United Nations requests in the name of reconstruction of civil society and disaster relief.


The White Paper was compiled in this direction. It advises to revise defense related laws and policies swiftly in order to implement the military strategy of Abe government and stipulates amendment of the Constitution as a top priority.


National Security Council


According to the 2013 version, in the chapter of Overview China, Russia and DPRK constitute 'destabilizing factors' and they become 'increasingly tangible, acute and serious'. It says international security environment is severer.


Abruptly in the next chapter, the paper touches upon creation of the National Security Council. A bill to establish the council was presented last ordinary session of the Diet and is kept as an agendum for debates.


The Abe government has obtained the majority in both of the Houses after the election and succeeded in solving a twisted situation of the two Houses. The ruling party is intended to approve a series of bills in the coming extraordinary session of the Diet; they are the Basic Act on National Security, the Secret Preservation Act and the said National Security Council Act in a combined way.


A package of these bills will be used to authorize the right of collective defense and deregulate the export principles of weapons. These are factors that undermine the Constitution, Article Nine, in particular. We, the New Socialist Party, together with other political forces, are determined to fight inside and outside of the Diet to halt the government's ambitions.


Strike against Enemy Bases - Authorized


The White Paper presents Diet debates on the defense issues in the Column and says that 'conventional strike against an enemy's military facilities is permitted under the Constitution to the extent that the three conditions of self-defense are met, and if no other suitable means are available'. The paper regards this right lies within the scope of individual right of self-defense.


The new white paper is characterized by arbitrary and self-opinionated intentions and expressions of the Ministry of Defense and the SDF. You can find military strategies there that go beyond the concept of exclusively defensive posture, which has been the governments' policy for long, if you read the interim report on the Defense Posture Review released July 26 and the Japan Examining the Dynamic Defense Force of the East Asian Strategic Review compiled by the National Institute for Defense Studies.


These are first signs of the characteristics of Abe government, which will show its nature soon to run violently as it enjoys overwhelming victory by way of the last two elections.


We must be ready to fight against amendment of the Constitution with firm, fresh determination.


August 6, 2013