Japan Breaking Free of Its
Pacifist Past
Japan's allies offer encouragement, while
regional neighbors grow nervous
Hajime Kimura for
TIME
A Self-
Defense Forces pilot during alert
training at the Naha Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, on Sept.
10, 2013
U.S. Marine tilt-rotor aircraft swooped in during a joint
training exercise at this
military
training range in southwestern
Japan last week,
dropping off Japanese ground troops and peeling away. The
soldiers raced to nearby positions, cutting off an opposing
force threatening Marines nearby.
As military maneuvers go, it was fairly basic. But had it been
a real-
world mission,
it might also have been illegal.
Under the current interpretation of Japan’s pacifist
constitution, Japan’s
armed
forces are not permitted to fight on behalf of friends
or allies unless the Japanese themselves come under direct
attack.
It is a policy that conservative
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to
change. An
advisory panel
is expected to issue a report by year’s end recommending that
Abe issue a new interpretation of the 66-year-old constitution.
A new policy is expected, which will permit Japanese troops to
come to the aid of not only Americans and other allies, but
international peacekeepers and civilian refugees as well.
“Some people fear that if the interpretation is changed, Japan
will be able to wage war on the other side of the world, but
that’s not what this is about,” says Yuichi Hosoya, a
law professor at Keio
University and a member of Abe’s Advisory Panel on
Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for Security.
(
MORE: Return
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Country’s Former Glory)
“The purpose is to enable Japan to help defend members of other
countries, be they peacekeepers or civilians. It is about
engaging in joint, collective self-defense,” Hosoya says.
At present, about 350 Japanese troops — mostly engineers — are
part of a U.N. peacekeeping force in
South Sudan.
Japanese warships and patrol planes have been taking part in
multinational antipiracy missions off the coast of Somalia since
2009.
Japan has wrestled with constitutional limits on its troops for
decades. Prior to the 1990s, Japan refused to participate in
international peacekeeping operations or other missions that
might draw Japanese troops into a fight. Though formidable,
Japan’s armed forces are organized, trained and equipped largely
for defensive operations.
Nonetheless,
China’s
rising military strength and assertiveness, and increasing calls
for Japan — still one of world’s richest countries — to
participate in international
peace
and security operations has forced a new look at how
and when its forces might be allowed to fight.
Under the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, American forces are
obligated to defend Japan against attack. But Japan’s
responsibilities for protecting Americans are less clearly
defined. Abe says he wants to tighten security relations with
Washington, and argues that failure to help defend American
forces when necessary could jeopardize the alliance.
“Imagine a situation where a U.S. warship protecting waters
around Japan comes under a missile attack when our Aegis ship is
nearby,” Abe told reporters in July. “If we don’t shoot [hostile
missiles] down despite our capability [to do so], the American
ship will sink and many young lives will be lost. Can we
maintain the alliance under such a circumstance?”
Americans have been quietly urging Japan to drop the ban on
collective self-defense. Australia’s new Foreign Minister, Julie
Bishop, said last week that her government welcomes “the
direction that the Abe government has taken in terms of having a
more normal defense posture and being able to take a
constructive role in regional and global security.”
But not everyone thinks that’s a good idea.
(
MORE: Why
Japan’s Biggest Defense-Spend Hike in Over Two Decades Isn’t
Going to Buy Much)
China has denounced the debate over collective self-defense as
evidence of rising Japanese militarism. Officials in South
Korea, another U.S. ally, have expressed reservations about the
change in policy as well.
Even in Japan, where support for the self-defense force has
grown dramatically since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, 59% of
respondents in a recent
Asahi newspaper poll said they
opposed any change in the policy.
Abe had been expected to push for revisions during a special
session of the Diet that began last week, but has delayed action
until the advisory panel issues its report.
For troops training at the Aibano range last week, the policy
debate seemed somewhat moot.
About 80 U.S. Marines and 200 members of the Japan Ground
Self-Defense Force spent two weeks practicing basic infantry
skills and working to eliminate language, cultural and
operational differences. Though smaller than originally planned,
the exercise carried on despite budget chaos in Washington and a
typhoon that battered much of eastern and central Japan.
The senior Japanese commander on the scene said the exercise,
held twice a year, was unrelated to growing tensions with China
or the debate over collective self-defense.
“The strategic environment surrounding our country has changed
and the Japanese people are concerned about their security. Our
mission is to be ready to protect the peace and security of this
country — we are confident we can do that,” said Colonel Sosuke
Yoshida, commander of the 37th Infantry Regiment.
Lieut. Colonel Tom Wood, commander of the Third Battalion,
Third Marine Regiment, said he was impressed with the planning,
maintenance and field skills of the Japanese troops. If they
lack anything, he said, it’s the ingrained aggressiveness that
U.S. troops have learned through a decade of war in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
“You can see it: they are not an offensive force, they are a
self-defense force,” said Wood. “But I’d be happy to serve
alongside these guys. We know they’ll be there.”
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東突厥斯坦共和國國徽
民族隔阂
独立困境
中国民间学者杨子利是回族，他在接受采访时说，无论从民族角度还是人道主义角度，他都认为当局不应该打
压维吾尔人的民族信仰。但是他并不赞同海外维吾尔社区领袖表达的独立立场。
在紅朝「以房養老」的忽悠聲中，雖然人們多不買帳，也不相信，
肇事汽车撞伤行人后起火，车内三人均告死亡
