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A constitutional change would enhance East Asian security
Updated June 22, 2014 5:32 p.m. ET
The Wallstreet Journal
The Japanese Diet adjourned for the summer without a Cabinet decision to reinterpret the country's constitution and allow the right of collective self-defense. This is being seen as a setback for Shinzo Abe, who pressed hard for a quick decision, but the slower pace could be good news for the Prime Minister.
Widening Japan's role in regional security is a historic step, best taken with the broadest possible national consensus.
Collective self-defense would bring the U.S.-Japan security alliance into balance. While the U.S. is committed to aiding Japan in a military conflict, Japan's pacifist constitution currently restricts its Self Defense Forces to the use of minimal force needed to defend the country against direct attack.
The U.S.-Japan defense cooperation guidelines would be revised so that the SDF could intercept U.S.-bound missiles shot from North Korea or a belligerent China, assist allied ships under siege, or sweep for mines in foreign waters where Japanese merchant ships travel.
Japan would be able to form alliances with other nations on an equal basis. The security of East Asia has depended on bilateral treaties between the U.S. and its allies in the region. The rise of China and a shrinking Pentagon budget mean that those allies need to form a web of alliances to work together in a crisis.
Collective self-defense is recognized as a sovereign right under international law, and as such is an important part of Japan becoming a "normal nation," as prominent politician Ichiro Ozawa advocated in the early 1990s. It is also the cornerstone of the post-World War II democratic order on which Japan's security and prosperity is based.
So far the main obstacle to such normalization has been the dismissive attitude by some Japanese politicians—including, at times, Mr. Abe—toward Japan's wartime history. An effort by conservative Japanese politicians to re-examine the 1993 Kono statement apologizing for Japan's enslavement of South Korean "comfort women" prompted outrage in Seoul last week and is a reminder that Japan's quest for normalization will be eyed warily by its would-be adversaries and allies in the region until it demonstrates that it has learned the lessons of its descent into fanatical nationalism.
Yet the nationalism that should alarm Asian countries today comes from Beijing not Tokyo. China's military expansion has given it capabilities that outclass most of its neighbors and deeply concern America's top brass.
Beijing has used those capabilities to seize the Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines, deploy oil rigs in disputed waters off the coast of Vietnam, and even harass U.S. Navy ships in the South China Sea.
As China rises, Japan has only been able to offer its regional allies coast guard patrol boats. Under Mr. Abe's proposal, Japan would be free to offer more useful material and training.
A strengthened Japan-Vietnam-Philippines axis would rebalance East Asia, creating an informal alliance willing to support each other in the face of Chinese aggression.
As East Asia starts to appreciate Japan's potential contribution to regional security, the Japanese public has also begun to see the wisdom of such a course. China's unilateral imposition of an air-defense identification zone over the Senkaku Islands last November has convinced many Japanese to ponder the advantages of remaining pacifist as a rising and aggressive neighbor changes the status quo by subterfuge and force.
That shift is reflected in the willingness of the pacifist New Komeito Party's to compromise on the issue. If Mr. Abe does secure the right to collective self-defense this year, the Chinese will no doubt aim a propaganda barrage at Tokyo denouncing its alleged return to militarism.
But the Chinese have only themselves to blame for validating the security fears of Japan and the rest of East Asia.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/a-step-toward-a-normal-japan-1403450539
Updated June 22, 2014 5:32 p.m. ET
The Wallstreet Journal
The Japanese Diet adjourned for the summer without a Cabinet decision to reinterpret the country's constitution and allow the right of collective self-defense. This is being seen as a setback for Shinzo Abe, who pressed hard for a quick decision, but the slower pace could be good news for the Prime Minister.
Widening Japan's role in regional security is a historic step, best taken with the broadest possible national consensus.
Collective self-defense would bring the U.S.-Japan security alliance into balance. While the U.S. is committed to aiding Japan in a military conflict, Japan's pacifist constitution currently restricts its Self Defense Forces to the use of minimal force needed to defend the country against direct attack.
The U.S.-Japan defense cooperation guidelines would be revised so that the SDF could intercept U.S.-bound missiles shot from North Korea or a belligerent China, assist allied ships under siege, or sweep for mines in foreign waters where Japanese merchant ships travel.
Japan would be able to form alliances with other nations on an equal basis. The security of East Asia has depended on bilateral treaties between the U.S. and its allies in the region. The rise of China and a shrinking Pentagon budget mean that those allies need to form a web of alliances to work together in a crisis.
Collective self-defense is recognized as a sovereign right under international law, and as such is an important part of Japan becoming a "normal nation," as prominent politician Ichiro Ozawa advocated in the early 1990s. It is also the cornerstone of the post-World War II democratic order on which Japan's security and prosperity is based.
So far the main obstacle to such normalization has been the dismissive attitude by some Japanese politicians—including, at times, Mr. Abe—toward Japan's wartime history. An effort by conservative Japanese politicians to re-examine the 1993 Kono statement apologizing for Japan's enslavement of South Korean "comfort women" prompted outrage in Seoul last week and is a reminder that Japan's quest for normalization will be eyed warily by its would-be adversaries and allies in the region until it demonstrates that it has learned the lessons of its descent into fanatical nationalism.
Yet the nationalism that should alarm Asian countries today comes from Beijing not Tokyo. China's military expansion has given it capabilities that outclass most of its neighbors and deeply concern America's top brass.
Beijing has used those capabilities to seize the Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines, deploy oil rigs in disputed waters off the coast of Vietnam, and even harass U.S. Navy ships in the South China Sea.
As China rises, Japan has only been able to offer its regional allies coast guard patrol boats. Under Mr. Abe's proposal, Japan would be free to offer more useful material and training.
A strengthened Japan-Vietnam-Philippines axis would rebalance East Asia, creating an informal alliance willing to support each other in the face of Chinese aggression.
As East Asia starts to appreciate Japan's potential contribution to regional security, the Japanese public has also begun to see the wisdom of such a course. China's unilateral imposition of an air-defense identification zone over the Senkaku Islands last November has convinced many Japanese to ponder the advantages of remaining pacifist as a rising and aggressive neighbor changes the status quo by subterfuge and force.
That shift is reflected in the willingness of the pacifist New Komeito Party's to compromise on the issue. If Mr. Abe does secure the right to collective self-defense this year, the Chinese will no doubt aim a propaganda barrage at Tokyo denouncing its alleged return to militarism.
But the Chinese have only themselves to blame for validating the security fears of Japan and the rest of East Asia.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/a-step-toward-a-normal-japan-1403450539
