New York Times: Japan Moves to Allow Military Combat for First Time in 70 Years
TOKYO — Defying broad public opposition and large demonstrations, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a crucial vote in Parliament on Thursday for legislation that would give Japan’s military limited powers to fight in foreign conflicts for the first time since World War II.
Mr. Abe’s party and its allies in the lower house of Parliament approved the package of 11 security-related bills after opposition lawmakers walked out in protest and as demonstrators chanted noisily outside, despite a gathering typhoon. The upper chamber, which Mr. Abe’s coalition also controls, is all but certain to endorse the legislation as well.
WNU Editor: China is not amused and issues a threat .... China warns Japan over laws to allow its troops to fight abroad (The Guardian). More reaction from China is here. What's my take .... this is monumental and fundamental change in Japanese foreign/military/and political policy and strategy.
More News On Japan Voting To Allow The Deployment Of Combat Forces For The First Time Since The Second World War
Japan's lower house approves change to self-defence law -- BBC
Japan moves closer to more assertive military role as lawmakers pass bills -- CNN
Japan's Parliament Votes to Expand Military's Overseas Role -- NBC
Japan Claims Limited Military Powers for First Time Since World War II -- Washington Free Beacon
Shinzo Abe seeks to reassure China over Japan’s security bills -- Financial Times
Thousands protest against Japan security bills -- Channel News Asia
Japan's (self) defence forces -- Jonathan Marcus, BBC
Is Japan's military heading for a fight? -- Inside Story/Al Jazeera
3 comments:
Interesting, as this supposedly violates (if I'm not wrong) Japan's constitution... When a government bypasses their constitution like that -- what's the point of there being a constitution?
us gov is causing all this shit if there not and there influence is really waning ww3 is a coming
If the US is "causing" this sh!t, then is good. It's long past time for Japan to start taking a more active role in representing its interests. I've written elsewhere on this site about this current situation needing to change.
Japan today is not the same country it was in the early to mid 1940s and the United States is not the same country today it was then. While the chances of Japan reverting to its old form of WW2 are not mathematically zero, the chances are slightly less likely that this will happen than we will have a warm balmy day at the South Pole, the Red Sea will part, and a black hole will pass through the solar system all at the exact same moment in time. In other words, worries about Japan's past behavior of WW2 are frankly unworthy of serious discussion.
While I fully understand that Russia and are the world's foremost military powers and frankly the US and the rest of the "west" need to be acting in accordance with this reality. While I would not expect the rest of the "west" to follow suit if the US adjusted its policy accordingly, it would still be an excellent place for us to start.
Now with that said it would be helpful if someone had the courage of conviction to call the Russians and the Chinese out on some of these things. 1.)China's response to the change in Japanese policy that has not even occurred yet is completely ridiculous. To use a metaphor militarily China is like a highly trained world class athlete. In contrast, Japan has barely learned how to walk yet much less run or even be remotely capable of matching China on the battlefield. While I'm not sure how long it would take for Japanese military capability to rise to a position where they could defend their islands and their interests by themselves, I think 3 to 5 years to be reasonable. As far as being able to compete with China such a thing is not even on the visible horizon. 2.)Russia's response to a missile defense systems that would hard pressed to thwart a limited missile strike and would have no chance against a highly advanced arsenal such as Russia has is equally ridiculous. It'd be nice to have someone call them out on this.
Now if China plans on invading Japan perhaps this is something they need to worry about and this may explain their ridiculous response. Very respectfully a change in military posture by Japan is not going to trigger WW3. In fact, it may help to prevent such a scenario as Japan , while not likely able to defeat China militarily, can act as a check against them. One of the top three threats to America is an invasion of the US mainland by Chinese and allied forces. A strong Japan who is only friendly or at least non hostile terms with the US could serve as a buffer for us in such a scenario providing much needed assistance.
As for Japan's constitution, it is relic from a bygone era that needed to be ripped to shreds long ago. This change in Japanese policy should have occurred about 20 years ago. I'm pleased to see it happening now.
A few words of advice from an American friend of Japan, you will need to do something about this opposition. We've been undermined for many decades by a rabidly anti-American political left. Hopefully you can do a better job of dealing with this than we have.
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