Strengthening of USFJ must be foiled -- Akahata editorial, June 23

The U.S. global military transformation plan makes reduction of U.S. forces in Japan more unlikely. On the contrary, they are being reinforced.

As indicated by Okinawa-based U.S. Marines who were deployed to Iraq and took part in the massacre in Fallujah, Japan has been and continues to be a stronghold for U.S. wars abroad. A new change is that Japan is being transformed as a key U.S. stepping stone in carrying out preemptive strike strategy.

It is in this context that the government has decided to continue with the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq as part of the U.N. multinational force. This shows how deeply the SDF are going to be integrated with the U.S. forces abroad.

This, however, will deepen Japan's isolation in Asia and the rest of the world. A change is needed to get Japan out of the present policy supporting war.

U.S force reduction in South Korea, but reinforcement in Japan

At the recent Sea Island summit, the Japanese prime minister and the U.S. president confirmed that even though U.S. military presence is reduced in South Korea, the deterrent force can be maintained in Japan.

Military alliances the U.S. had with Asian countries have collapsed one after another, and such alliances remain only with Japan and South Korea. The South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo has described this as a manifestation of a crisis of the ROK-U.S. alliance.

However, the planned transformation of U.S. forces in Japan is aimed at substantially strengthening U.S. bases in Japan, which includes the deployment of the U.S. 1st Army Corps headquarters, assigned to the rapid transport of troops from the U.S. to Asia in the event of war, to Camp Zama in Kanagawa Prefecture, the homeporting of the U.S. Naval Yokosuka Base for a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and replacing the Okinawa-based Marine Corps artillery unit command to mainland Japan.

In Okinawa, residents have been carrying out a sit-in for more than two months in protest against the planned boring at the site chosen for the construction of a state-of-the-art on-sea airport that will destroy the beautiful sea coast of Henoko. In Kin Town, the U.S. forces began constructing an urban warfare training facility which is directly linked to the Iraq war.

What the U.S. forces are doing in Japan goes against the current of Asia and the world toward peace and will have a serious consequence for the future of Japan.

This framework is sustained by the Japan-U.S. military alliance which has expanded its role to the whole world and by the de-facto two-party system composed of the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties and the opposition Democratic Party, both in favor of the reinforcement of the U.S. forces in Japan as well as Japan's cooperation with the U.S. forces in foreign wars.

How anachronistic it is for Japan to continue to follow the U.S. policy of hegemony!

Japan's military alliance with the United States has been a major stumbling block to Japan engaging in independent diplomacy with the economically fast-growing Asian countries.

Asian nations are firmly opposed to the U.S. policy of military intervention in Asia carried out in the name of "fighting terrorism".

Simply because "there is no need for foreign intervention," Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other Asian countries are rejecting the U.S. plan to deploy its navy to the Strait of Malacca. At the call of the ASEAN, a regional treaty for friendship and cooperation was concluded to cover the whole of Asia. This indicates that Asia is dramatically making a headway toward establishing a peaceful system in this region based on the principle of respect for self-reliance and diversity of each of its members.

Will Japan opt to become isolated in Asia by continuing to follow U.S. hegemony?

The LDP, Komei, and the DPJ are not qualified to get Japan out of this wrong policy because they regard the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty as lasting forever. Only a JCP advance in the House of Councilors election will pave the way for a solution to this problem because it calls for the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty to be abrogated, and for an independent, non-aligned, and neutral Japan to be built.

Change Japan's foreign policy

The JCP puts up "four major changes in Japan's foreign policy": Give priority to Asian diplomacy so that Japan may join in the current of peace and friendship in Asia; establish rules for solving international conflicts peacefully; end diplomacy dependent on the United States and strengthen independent efforts; and acknowledge the death and destruction caused by Japan's wars of aggression and its colonization of Asia. (end)