Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Japan FM favors constitution change to war mode.

When a pacifist nation such as Japan considers revising its constitution so that it may take on a bigger military role this is an ominous indication of what is coming.

The Bush administration's National Security Strategy is premised on the plausible expectation that the United States has a window of opportunity of approximately a decade to attempt to achieve lasting military dominance in the world, after which it will be faced by an uncontainable Chinese adversary. An increase of forces in Asia and a freeing of some of them from confronting North Korea is a signal to China that the United States is serious about containing China's regional ambitions. Again, the success of a containment strategy is uncertain, but it is reasonable in terms of U.S. interests to attempt to make it work.

Leaving China unopposed by significant force would give it the opportunity to attempt to achieve predominant influence in its region, damaging U.S. economic interests severely, possibly setting off the development of nuclear weapons by Japan and providing China with the geopolitical, economic and, eventually, military resources to challenge the United States as a superpower. It is also possible that U.S. decision makers believe that a preemptive military attack on North Korea is imprudent, not only because of the consequences of a peninsular war on South Korea, but because China might be drawn into the conflict. The road to Pyongyang -- if there is one -- runs through Beijing.
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The window of opportunity in which to engage China in a world war is somewhat less than a decade. If China is to become uncontainable in ten years then the United States will have to attack sooner. Japan would fit into the ‘increase of forces in Asia’ category albeit as an ally yet capable of sending the same signal to China that the United States is serious about containing China’s regional ambitions.

-Am

Japan foreign minister favors constitution change


Tuesday, September 28, 2004 11:47 PM



TOKYO - Japan should revise its pacifist, U.S.-drafted constitution so that the world's second-biggest economy can play a greater security role abroad, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said on Tuesday.


He also said Japan would not hold talks with North Korea on forging diplomatic ties unless Pyongyang responds "convincingly and sincerely" in a dispute over Japanese citizens Tokyo believes to have been abducted by North Korean agents decades ago.


Stressing that Japan has been engaged in non-combat peace-keeping activities abroad, he said it should become a permanent member on the U.N. Security Council with a bigger military role.


"I think we should revise the constitution in the sense that it is better to have a constitution with no ambiguity when Japan becomes a permanent member of the Security Council," Machimura told Reuters in an interview.


Article Nine of Japan's postwar constitution renounces the right to go to war and forbids a military, although it is interpreted as permitting forces for self-defense.


Japan, along with Germany, has long sought a permanent seat on the Security Council whose five members with veto power -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- have held their seats since they emerged victorious from World War II.


Machimura said, however, that the 1947 constitution would not hamper Japan's bid for the top U.N. seat.


"The argument that Japan, with the present constitution, cannot become a Security Council member, is wrong," he said.


Separately, new defense minister Yoshinori Ohno was quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying Japan should change the interpretation of its constitution so it can exercise the right to collective self-defense, or aiding an ally under attack.


"I would like (Japan's) interpretation of the right to collective self-defense to be made clearer to enable Japan to exercise it," Kyodo quoted Ohno as telling Kyodo and other Japanese media.


Ohno also indicated his support for revising the constitution to allow the right of collective self-defense to be exercised, Kyodo said.


Successive Japanese governments have interpreted the constitution's pacifist Article Nine as prohibiting Japan from exercising the right to collective self-defense.


In a speech to the General Assembly last week, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said countries with the will and resources had to have a place in the council and outlined Japan's contribution to "peace-building and nation-building."


Staunch US ally


Japan, one of the United States' closest allies in Asia, has sent about 550 ground troops to Iraq -- with a strictly non-combat remit -- to help rebuild the war-torn country, its biggest and riskiest mission since World War II.


Critics say the deployment violates the pacifist clause of the constitution.


Japan's willingness to stretch the limits of the constitution and talk of its revision have sparked concern in China and other Asian countries that still harbour bitter memories of Tokyo's wartime aggression.


Japanese media quoted Secretary of State Colin Powell as saying this month that Japan must consider revising its constitution if it wanted to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.


Machimura also voiced his displeasure at North Korea for not furnishing details of 10 missing Japanese whose suspected abduction decades ago by the North is the main stumbling block in the way of diplomatic ties.


Japan and North Korea failed to make any progress in the dispute during two days of talks in Beijing at the weekend.


Machimura said Japan would not hold talks with North Korea on establishing ties as long as the reclusive communist state refuses to provide enough information on the abductees.


"We can in no way move forward unless North Korea responds convincingly and sincerely," he said.

Another block is North Korea's nuclear program, the subject of separate multilateral talks that also involve South Korea (news - web sites), Russia, China and the United States.



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