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2006 Defense White Paper puts U.S. interests above Japanese people
Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The Defense Agency on August 1 published the 2006 Defense white paper "Defense of Japan", which will be the last one under the Koizumi Cabinet.

The white paper promotes bills to upgrade the agency to a ministry and to make overseas operations of the Self-Defense Forces one of its primary missions, ahead of their enactment. Devoting a chapter to strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance, the paper openly advocates the position to push ahead with the U.S. military realignment in Japan in defiance of opposition from local residents and their governments across the country. With the aim of enabling the SDF to go to wars abroad with the U.S. forces, the paper shows no hesitation in going against the will of the Japanese people.

Aiming at 'war-capable nation'

In these five years, the Koizumi government has hastily taken such steps to strengthen the SDF and the Japan-U.S. military alliance. They include the dispatch of the SDF to the Indian Ocean and Iraq in order to support the U.S. aggression and intervention against Afghanistan and Iraq made in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack in 2001; the enactment of Wartime Laws that had long been an outstanding issue for the government and the Liberal Democratic Party; the adoption of the third National Defense Program Outline and the new Mid-term Defense Build-up Program; the agreement with the U.S. to jointly develop the Missile Defense program; and the consultation with the U.S. on the U.S. military realignment in Japan that will mobilize Japan for U.S. preemptive wars.

Coupled with the attempt to adversely revise Article 9 of the Constitution so as to stipulate a "self-defense military" in the Constitution, these series of steps are aimed at turning Japan into a nation able to go to war abroad under the strengthened Japan-U.S. alliance for the purpose of aggression, and turning the SDF into a military able to fight wars together with the U.S. forces.

Based on the these steps and the final agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan reached in May, the white paper openly takes the position to unconditionally fulfill the pledge to the United States in defiance of the opposition of the Japanese public, by stating, "We believe the completion of the realignment initiatives is indispensable for making the Japan-U.S. alliance more effective."

The upgrading of the Defense Agency to a ministry that the paper strongly promotes, despite the fact that it is still under discussion in the Diet, does not intend to merely change the name. Coupled with the scheme to make international peace cooperation activities a primary mission of the SDF, the scheme aims at the total remaking of the Defense Agency and the SDF as "an organization that can take on new roles."

As the Defense Agency explained that it was the first time for the Defense white paper to comprehensively take up Japan-U.S. relations, including its significance and specific measures, it devoted a chapter to "Strengthening of the Japan-U.S. Security Arrangements," elaborating the Japan-U.S. agreement on the realignment of the U.S. forces in Japan and concluding that "Japan will implement these realignment initiatives in a timely and thorough manner and completely in collaboration with the United States."

The realignment of U.S. forces in Japan aims at turning the Japanese archipelago into a U.S. stronghold to fight preemptive wars abroad and establishing a full-fledged SDF-U.S. forces cooperation setup. With the establishment of this setup, the SDF will fully assume the role as a "military able to wage war abroad." The Japan-U.S. military alliance to be strengthened in a way to carry out interventions in other countries by trampling down the wishes of the Japanese people must not be allowed.

Opposition never mentioned

While the white paper explained the role of the U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa and the need for Japan to pay the cost of the Marines' relocation to Guam, it never mention the fact that the realignment plan is opposed by local residents and their governments in Okinawa, Iwakuni, and the cities in and around Tokyo. It is obvious that the Paper gives far more priority to the interests of the United States than that of the Japanese people.

However, deep-rooted contradictions remain between the public and such moves the Paper puts forward as the upgrading of the Defense Agency to a ministry and the realignment of the U.S. forces in Japan. It is inevitable that the dangerous scheme the United States has engineered be rebuffed by the Japanese people who exercise sovereignty.
- Akahata, August 2, 2006