On July 1, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a Cabinet meeting to authorize a reinterpretation of Article 9 of Japan’s constitution, to allow Japan to engage in collective self-defense. The major impact of this reinterpretation will be changes to the military cooperation within the US-Japan Security Treaty.
Until now, Japan’s military limitations, in accordance with the nation’s constitution, have meant that its Self-Defense Forces could only engage in self-defense on Japanese soil, and that the US would deal with any attacks on enemy soil. By allowing collective self-defense actions, issues such as missile attacks on ships, military action when Japan is under attack and military exercises under normal circumstances are all coming under review.
Abe has not been shying away from pointing out that China’s rise is worrying Japan. The triangular relationship between the US, China and Japan has an effect on the development of the Asian region, in particular the possibility that Japan could be allowed passive participation in military activities in Asia.
The question is whether the effect of this reinterpretation will be limited to Japan taking defensive action to protect its own territory.
Before China became militarily strong, North Korea’s irregular nuclear tests and firing missiles over Japanese territory were always unacceptable to Japan.
In recent years, China has increased its military budget sharply, particularly in connection to the conflicts in the South China Sea and around the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). This has caused worries in Japan, which is what led to the constitutional reinterpretation.
However, the Abe government has been the most ambitious Japanese government in many years. It is trying to revive the economy following the downturn that began in the 1990s and to cast off the restrictions on its self-defense forces to be able to participate militarily in global affairs.
At first sight, Abe’s ambition seems to be aimed at China and North Korea, but Japan is in fact falling back on the “China threat” theory to finally gain military autonomy and to escape the US’ control. To be able to strengthen both the country and its military and become a “normal” nation, it must amend its constitution and oppose China with US support. Then Japan will finally be able to leave behind the humiliation of defeat in World War II, and once again become one of Asia’s stronger nations.
The reinterpretation of Article 9 in its constitution has made this transformation possible. From now on, the Japanese government can directly and effectively participate in military conflict and interfere in the South China Sea conflict. In other words, so-called “passive military action” is the first step toward pro-active military action.
The determination of what constitutes an incident in Japan’s surrounding areas is a matter of interpretation by a strong nation, and not a matter of objective fact. After all, before World War II, Japan used “self-defense” to justify its invasion of China.
On July 3, during a visit to Nara, Japan, for academic purposes, I saw a small protest against the constitutional reinterpretation. There are of course voices of opposition in Japan, but they have been drowned out by economic concerns, as Abe’s government is using economic revival to influence the atmosphere in society. Perhaps there is a risk that Japan is waiting for an opportunity to put itself forward in an incident in Asia that would allow it to take advantage of the current situation in the US to rise as a new militarily strong state.
As the situation in the region changes, our government must rely on intelligent analysis before taking sides.
The main concern must be to protect the nation’s interests.
Pan Fan is a professor in the Graduate Institute of Art Studies at Fo Guang University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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