Abe's flagrant disregard of the Constitution

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Abe's flagrant disregard of the Constitution
Akahata editorial

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo explained Japan's policy of cooperating with NATO on security affairs in a speech at the North Atlantic Council. Abe was the first Japanese prime minister to address NATO's decision-making body.

Japan is currently strengthening its preparedness to wage wars based on the "U.S.-Japan Global Alliance." Its security cooperation with NATO, which is the military alliance between the United States, Canada and European countries, will only help strengthen the global strategy of the U.S. Bush administration which is increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. Prime Minister Abe has promoted a policy that will violate the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and threaten the international order for peace established by the United Nations.

U.S. scenario

It's appalling that Prime Minister Abe has clearly stated, "Japanese will no longer shy away from carrying out overseas activities involving the Self-Defense Forces." This is tantamount to proclaiming Japan's willingness to send the SDF anywhere in the world.

He said that Japan will do so "while adhering to the principles of the Constitution," but this only misrepresents the Constitution as if it were a basic law that approves SDF military activities throughout the world. It is a statement debasing the pioneering role of Article 9 that bans Japan from waging wars as means of solving international disputes

Japan with its Article 9 is going to begin cooperation with NATO which is committed to carry out military interventions by exercising the right of collective self-defense. We must stop this move.

The Abe policy is intended to go beyond having dialogue with NATO to set up cooperation in the military field. He expressed willingness to not only participate in the refueling of NATO warships in the Indian Ocean as part of its support for the U.S. "retaliatory war" against Afghanistan, but also increase support for NATO's "security" operations. He went so far as to state that the SDF will join activities to "dismantle the illegal militias."

In May last year, Foreign Minister Aso Taro spoke at NATO stating, "Let us start talking to one another more often on a regular basis, with a view of the possibility of operational cooperation in the future" in addition to policy cooperation. It's obvious that Japan is moving more rapidly toward establishing "military cooperation with NATO even without a treaty."

U.S. President Bush in a speech ahead of the November 2006 NATO Summit stated that NATO will "conduct joint training, joint exercises, and common defense planning."

Abe did not refer to the United Nations Charter when he talked as if Japan and NATO were the main players dealing with international affairs. Abe said, "Japan and NATO share a common sense of responsibility towards global challenges. We now need to work together more than ever to share our capabilities as we work to consolidate peace in the face of conflict," as if he was trying to persuade NATO.

However, with France, Germany, and other countries opposing the Iraq War and with some countries declining to send combat troops to Afghanistan's southern war-zones, NATO is not in a position to play the role that the United States calls for. This forced the Bush administration in its U.S. Security Strategy report of March 2006 to call for NATO to work with existing international organizations.

Clearly, Abe's NATO speech was intended to represent U.S. government policy and urge NATO to enhance its military functions.

Japan must join global current for peace

The issue of world peace should be dealt with by the United Nations at the center based on the U.N. Charter. Trying to strengthen military alliances that require a hypothetical enemy will hamper the effort to achieve a world without war. The world current is drastically moving away from military alliances into an era of communities of nations for peace.

Guided by its peace Constitution, Japan should take the high road by joining the world current working for peace.
-Akahata, January 14, 2007