JCP Fudesaka criticizes government for call of right to collective self-defense

Speaking out against the government's zeal for allowing Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, JCP Fudesaka Hideyo demanded that the government abandon such an unconstitutional idea.

In the House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on May 22, Fudesaka asked Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro how the right to collective self-defense should be defined. In reply, Koizumi said, "It means taking military action to thwart attacks against a third country even though Japan may not be directly involved."

"Your answer means that it has nothing to do with the defense of Japan," Fudesaka said.

As examples of actions in the name of the right to collective self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, Foreign Minister Tanaka Makiko mentioned three wars of aggression: the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan and the U.S. aggression against Vietnam. The two superpowers only used the logic of the "right to collective self-defense" to evade international criticism of their military actions, Fudesaka said.

Contrary to Prime Minister Koizumi's argument that the Japanese Constitution allows the government to consider exercising the right to collective self-defense, the Constitution's Article 9 cannot be compatible with the right to collective self-defense, which has nothing to do with the defense of Japan, Fudesaka added.

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Comparing Fudesaka's question to an armed attack, Nakatani Gen, Defense Agency director general, suddenly broke into the debate between Fudesaka and Koizumi, saying that he would "exercise the right to collective self-defense."

Nakatani illustrated the right as follows: "If a child was drowning in the pond in front of your house, you would rush to help the child, wouldn't you? If a fire breaks out in the neighborhood, you surely will fight it, won't you?."

"How stupid your argument is! Are you saying the U.S. drowning? The U.S. has always been the aggressor, and has not been attacked by foreign powers except for Pearl Harbor," Fuidesaka said. (end)