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

Government takes a step toward unconstitutional military cooperation with NATO

Foreign Minster Aso Taro expressed the government intention to enter into military cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at the North Atlantic Council on May 4.

By promoting military cooperation with NATO, which has nothing to do with the self-defense of Japan, Japan will undertake to support the U.S. hegemonic domination of the world beyond the Asia region.

Citing Japan's refueling of NATO-member vessels in the Indian Ocean and cooperation with the Netherlands and Britain in Iraq, Aso said, "Japan has already established cooperation with NATO and will explore the most appropriate way for increasing the cooperation."

NATO conducted military operations in the U.S. retaliatory war against Afghanistan by enforcing its right to collective defense.

There must not be military cooperation with NATO since it enforces the right to collective defense and Japan is prohibited from exercising such a right under the war-renouncing Constitution. It is clearly unconstitutional for Japan to become a U.S. lieutenant together with Britain to support the U.S. Bush administration's policy to strengthen its military alliances.

Since many NATO members are opposed to the Iraq War and taking a non-cooperative stance, the United States can no longer make NATO do whatever it wants. Therefore, the U.S. government seeks to beef up NATO by strengthening military coordination between NATO and such bilateral alliances as the Japan-U.S. and U.S.-South Korea alliances in order to establish a military alliance setup most useful for the U.S. preemptive attack strategy.

The U.N. Charter prohibits military alliances based on imaginary enemies and establishes rules for resolving disputes through negotiations. After WWII, many military alliances were built in defiance of the spirit of the U.N. Charter. However, since the 1970s, such military alliances as the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and the Central Treaty Organization have been dismantled or have suspended their functions one after another, and the move to solve disputes by peaceful means has gained momentum

Making full use of Article 9 of the Constitution, Japan should accelerate this move for peace. - Akahata, June 20, 2006