  Japan-U.S. Security Treaty will be turned into global military alliance -- Akahata editorial, February 22The Japanese and U.S. governments held a meeting in Washington, D.C. with the Security Consultative Committee (SCC), or the "two-plus-two" meetings of ministers in charge of foreign and security affairs: Foreign Minister Machimura Nobutaka and Defense Agency Director General Ono Yoshinori from Japan, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from the United States. They set forth "common strategic objectives" for Japan and the United States to deal with security in Asia and the rest of the world, and issued a joint statement which includes concrete measures to be taken to transform U.S. military posture. This will be an interim agreement toward a new joint declaration on security to be published by the two government leaders in autumn. The published statement will change Japan-U.S. relations into a military alliance on a global scale, an attempt that will endanger the peace and safety of Japan. SDF deployment abroad The statement said, "The Ministers looked to expand cooperative relations between the United States and Japan, recognizing that the U.S.-Japan Alliance ... continues to play a vital role ... in enhancing regional and global peace and stability." Before the two-plus-two meetings, Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro in his policy speech to the Diet stated that the Japan-U.S. alliance is the foundation for peace and stability in the world. To "expand cooperative relations" means that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces will take part in wars of preemptive attack like the Iraq War that the U.S. Bush administration carried out under the pretext of "international terrorism" and existence of "weapons of mass destruction." It also means that the U.S. forces will use Japan as a foothold from which they can freely go to war anywhere in the world, with Japan supporting them. It is a clear violation of the Constitution for the government to change the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty into a military alliance on a global scale, and allow the SDF to intervene anywhere in the world by setting up a system for SDF deployment abroad. It also reneges on repeated government assertions that the area to be covered by the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is not unlimited but is restricted to what is generally called the Far East (Foreign Ministry: new Japan-U.S. mutual cooperation and security treaty, July, 1960). The joint statement also reveals the Koizumi government's posture in subordination to the U.S. Nine years ago, Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryutaro and President Bill Clinton issued the Japan-U.S. Joint Declaration on Japan U.S. Security, calling for the realigning of the alliance to cover the whole Asia-Pacific region. As its subtitle "Alliance for the 21st Century" suggested, it was to cover the 21st century. But the Koizumi government submissively obeys the Bush administration's policy to expand the alliance to a global scale. The new joint statement will threat the peace in Asia by stating as below: "While noting that these threats (from international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction) are also emerging in the Asia-Pacific region", and "modernization of military capabilities in the region also requires attention," actually alluding to North Korea and China though not mentioned by name. It also states, "Encourage China to improve transparency of its military affairs," suggesting that they are regarding China as their enemy. As their common strategic goal, the statement states, "Develop a cooperative relationship with China, welcoming the country to play a responsible and constructive role regionally as well as globally," while referring to the issue of Taiwan, which is part of China. Dealing with China in this ambiguous manner will increase tensions. Both governments must stop going against the quest for peace in Asia by increasing regional military tensions. Maintain Article 9 Burden sharing between the SDF and the U.S. forces and their joint use of bases in Japan will be accelerated according to the joint statement. Implementing the SDF's new major mission of overseas dispatch are just around the corner. However, any detailed steps in accordance with the U.S. preemptive strike strategy can not be allowed by the Constitution. In Asia, efforts toward a region of peace have been increased, the aims of which the Japanese Constitution embodies. Let's joint efforts in defending Article 9 and in making a peaceful Asia so that the road to war under the Japan-U.S. joint statement will be closed. (end) |