The back of a ship with the Japanese flag: Should the world fear
changes to Japan's post-war constitution that would once again
allow the formation of a Japanese military? Nations like China and
Korea, which took the brunt of the war crimes committed by
Japan's Imperial Army, are sounding the
alarm.
U.S. Should
Reconsider Support for Right-Wing Japan Leaders (Global Times, China)
Should the
United States act to stop Japan from changing its pacific post-war
constitution? According to China's state-run Global Times, recent moves by Tokyo to alter its constitution to
allow the formation of a formal military rattles the nerves of Chinese and
Koreans, who once absorbed the brunt of Japan's war crimes.
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: As friction with China and North Korea grows, Abe, the most right-wing Japanese leader in years, wants to revise Japan's post-war constitution for the first time. After decades as one of the world's most peaceful nations, can Japan again be trusted to have a national military?
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
told media on Wednesday that the constitutional revisions to Japan's
constitution "is not an issue that needs to be explained" to China
and South Korea.
May 3 marked Constitution Memorial
Day in Japan, and Abe's intention to revise Japan's constitution is out in
the open. His primary objective has been widely considered to revising Article
9 of the constitution, which says that "the Japanese people forever
renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force
as means of settling international disputes."
Japan's pacific constitution was adopted under the guidance
of the U.S. military after World War II and is one of the cornerstones of
lasting peace in East Asia.
Against a backdrop that sees right-wing tendencies in Japan
on the rise, countries like China and South Korea are concerned about how Japan,
without the constraint of its pacific constitution, will impact the situation
in the region.
Such worries are both realistic and grave. Because Japan
takes such a dismissive attitude toward its war crimes, its planned constitutional
revisions raise alarm bells. If Japan revises Article 9, it may ignite a new
round of crisis.
Opposing constitutional revision in Japan is a cause with moral
legitimacy, which is why China should join with other international forces to pressure
Japan. Preventing this challenge to East Asia's post-war order in is fully in
line with China's interests.
Meanwhile, we should prepare for a long-term confrontation
with Japan. Sentiments opposing China's rise are spreading in Japan. Coupled
with the United States standing alongside it, greater confrontation between
China and Japan may prove hard to avoid.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
If things continue to develop along current lines, China's
GDP will be three times Japan's within a decade - and the gulf will continue to
grow. By then the threat from Japan will have almost collapsed. In that time in
the seas around China, the Japan-U.S. alliance will also lose its significance.
But prior to that, Japan will be keen to compete with China.
China's central purpose is to suppress Japanese harassment its
attempts to undermine China's development strategy, as well as prevent it from damaging
stability in East Asia. But without America's capacity to influence Japan,
China cannot expect its remonstrations to be genuinely heard.
For the moment, China cannot completely settle its accounts
with Japan. The right approach for China will be to marginalize Japan in Asia
by expanding the disparity in strength of our two countries in order to
eventually force Japan to approach China on its own. It may take decades, but that
is a short span when considering the evolving fate of a global power.
