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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Defense Agency document describes SDF as ﾔwar potentialﾕ

The Defense Agency in a document recently posted at its website describes the Self-Defense Forces as a ﾒmilitary force,ﾓ though it has regarded the SDF as the ﾒminimum necessary strengthﾓ in accordance with the Constitution banning Japan from maintaining war potential.

Concerning the integration on March 27 of the three Ground, Maritime, and Air SDF staff councils into a single Joint Staff Office, the document referred to ﾒintegrating operational capabilities of the three SDF military forces.ﾓ

The governmentﾕs 2004 National Defense Program Outline called for the integration of these three staff councils so that the SDF can be swiftly dispatched abroad in response to the U.S. global plan to ﾒtransform and realignﾓ U.S. forces for its preemptive wars.

In reply to newspaper Akahata, the agencyﾕs Public Information Division said that it will change the documentﾕs term ﾒwar potentialﾓ to ﾒdefensive power.ﾓ

The Liberal Democratic and Democratic parties in their drafts called for gutting the Constitutionﾕs Article 9 banning Japan from maintaining ﾒwar potentialﾓ as a step to deploy the SDF abroad. Both argue that the SDF should be defined as a ﾒmilitary force.ﾓ

The fact that the Defense Agency used the term ﾒmilitary forceﾓ to describe the SDF is seen as a preemption of constitutional revision and will face public criticism.
- Akahata, March 15, 2006