Japan is poised to set its plan in motion to
allow its military to help defend other countries, which will herald a major
shift in the country’s defence-oriented postwar security policy amid rising
concerns over its creeping assertiveness in the region.
Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to convene a Cabinet meeting Tuesday to
approve Tokyo’s right to exercise collective self-defence by reinterpreting the
war-renouncing Article 9 of its Constitution.
The
change will allow Japan’s Self-Defence Forces to use force to protect countries
with which it has “close ties” if they come under attack. It may also expand
the range of their use of weapons in peacekeeping operations and make way for
their participation in the UN’s collective security system, according to
Japanese media.
The
move is likely to bring Japan a step closer to the nationalist premier’s
long-cherished goal of becoming a “normal” state to better counter a rising
China and unabated North Korean threats.
Abe’s
Liberal Democratic Party has been fine-tuning the document with its coalition
partner the New Komeito Party, which initially displayed reluctance given
opposition at home and overseas.
“We’d
like to hammer it out tomorrow if the ruling bloc manages to complete
coordination,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference on
Monday.
Concerns
are growing that the decision would usher in a rebirth of Japanese militarism
from the early 20th century that still haunts the two Koreas, China and other
Asian countries by incapacitating the pacifist clause banning Tokyo from waging
war and possessing related materials.
Despite
Washington’s support, the policy shift has helped drag down the LDP’s approval
ratings to below 40 per cent for the first time, while fueling a series of
rallies among politicians and civic activists across the country.
In a
poll by Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper from June 27-28, about 58 per cent
of the respondents opposed to the plan and more than 70 per cent said that it
could drag the country into overseas wars. A separate joint survey by the Nihon
Keizai Shimbun and TV Tokyo also showed that around half of the respondents
disapproved and only 34 per cent supported the change.
Wary of
the sour public sentiment, Japan reportedly vowed to remain committed to an
exclusively defensive security policy and contribute to global peace and
stability as a “pacifist state” in a draft document.
The
constitutional reinterpretation is also likely to impact Tokyo’s relations with
Seoul, already snowed under with festering territorial and historical feuds.
Abe has
been pushing for a slew of revisionist foreign and security policies since he
took office early last year. Last week, his administration unveiled a report
that undermined its landmark 1993 apology for Japan’s enslavement of Korean
women during World War II, prompting scathing criticism from Seoul.
“Collective
self-defence is an issue of sovereignty so it’s a bit tricky for us to put
forward a certain assessment, but given the prevalent concerns and the issue’s
relevance to the Korean Peninsula, we will present our comprehensive position
after the cabinet decision,” a senior official at the Foreign Ministry here
said on condition of anonymity.
Shin
Hyon-hee
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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