 JCP: Withdraw new 'Defense Outline' and military buildup program The Japanese Communist Party in the Diet plenary session on March 15 demanded that the new "Defense Outline" and the five-year defense buildup program be withdrawn because they are aimed at deploying the Self-Defense Forces abroad to serve the U.S. preemptive attack strategy. Following the government report on the new "defense" policy in the House of Representatives, JCP representative Akamine Seiken took the floor and said, "The 'Outline' and the 'program' will drastically transform the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty into a military alliance extending globally based on the U.S. Bush administration's preemptive attack strategy, by removing the treaty's regional restrictions." Akamine also said, "It will change the SDF's major role into one of assisting U.S. forces outside of Japan and reorganize and strengthen the U.S. military bases in Japan as centers for command and control and as stepping stones for preemptive attacks." Akamine added that the new defense outline and program regards China as a military threat, which conflicts with the government "one China" policy. Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro in answer to Akamine said that the SDF dispatch to Iraq and the Indian Ocean was not based on the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty but was carried out as part of cooperation with the United States based on the "Japan-U.S. alliance in the world" concept, thus admitting that these SDF dispatches are without any treaty arrangements. A Liberal Democratic Party representative called for the Defense Agency to be upgraded to a ministry and that the exercise of the right of collective self-defense be authorized. A Democratic Party of Japan representative stressed China's "threat." (end) |