Two government leaders of the United States and Japan singed on April 27 the Guidelines for Japan-US Defense Cooperation, defining the document as historic. The event meant a pledge made by the Japanese authority prior to required domestic legal arrangements concerning the controversial cooperation. Premier Abe has violated not only the Constitution but also the Diet, infringing the rules set for international treaties.


‘PEACE’ BASED ON GLOBAL MILITRY STRENGTH


The new guidelines exceed far beyond the previous limits: the one set in 1978 for contingencies to be inflicted on Japan and the other reviewed in 1997 to respond to ‘situations in areas that surround Japan’. The document stipulates building and enhancing the alliance to fulfill bilateral operations on the global scale. Their intention lies in conducting combined operations of the two countries to block China, which keeps advancing lately, and make military intervention or wage a war on terrorism anywhere in the world. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, too, boasts of declaring to ‘cope with China’.


Arrogant Action with Borrowed Authority


The major objective shared by the two nations is to maintain and enhance Pax-Americana in the global security system. And the Abe government wants to play a role to create ‘peace by US and Japan’, joining and cooperating with this scheme. This means, however, that Japan should dispatch the Self Defense Forces (SDF) and pay tax money of Japanese people to compensate losses so that the United States might reduce sacrifices of troops and economize the military budget. The US government welcomed the decision of the government of Japan to owe full cost for the demands provided in the Armitage-Nye Report compiled in 2012. It was literally satisfactory to US.


In the meeting held in Washington the two leaders repeated a phrase which had been used in the said report emphatically, ‘values of TPP (= Trans-Pacific Partnership arrangements) in the context of national security’. In other words, the US and Japan will take an initiative militarily and economically in the strategy to conquer the world. Diplomacy of the Abe government is characterized by a stance to borrow authority of the United States to demonstrate pride of Japan in front of China and the rest of the world by clinging ‘seamlessly’ to the strategy.


Undermining Constitution


The new guidelines, according to the government, ‘will remain unchanged’ in terms of the rights and obligations under the US-Japan Security Treaty and ‘will be consistent’ with the Constitution. It is obvious, however, that bilateral global operations should be exercised beyond the concept of ‘defense of Japan and peace and security in the Far East’ (US-Japan Security Treaty) and could violate the Constitution which provides that ‘(the Japanese people) forever renounce war as a means of settling international disputes’ (Article Nine).


The Abe government is planned to establish a new, standing Alliance Coordination Mechanism that could cope with phases from peacetime to contingencies and strengthen bilateral planning. A whole-of-government Alliance approach will be taken to enhance operational coordination that includes all relevant agencies to cover necessary procedures and infrastructure, including facilities and information and communication systems.


Stipulated in the new guidelines are: responses to an armed attack against Japan by a third country, maintenance and enhancement of bilateral presence in the maritime domain, mutual protection of weapons and assets, defense postures against ballistic missile launches, inspection of ships, noncombatant evacuation operations, support to combat search and rescue operations, retrieval of islands, site surveys on civilian airports and seaports, effective utilization of authority and capabilities of municipalities and abilities of the private sector, cooperation in space and cyberspace, cooperation to protect secrets, educational and research exchanges, trilateral and multilateral defense cooperation, and etc. The concepts represent full-fledged preparation for a war in building and strengthening the Alliance’s functions.


Prime Minister Abe is again intended to force the Diet to approve a series of bills on account of ‘the international pledge’ he already made in advance of legislation. Such an act cannot be accepted.


Let’s impede war legislation through mass campaigns ‘Don’t Wage Wars! Don’t Destroy Article Nine!’ Let’s continue struggles throughout the summer!



May 19, 2015