Peace is possible only when Japan is freed from the yoke of Security Treaty with U.S.

Japan Press Weekly

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

Peace is possible only when Japan is freed from the yoke of Security Treaty with U.S.
Akahata editorial

The year 2010 will be the 50th year since the conclusion of the revised Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, which constitutes the core of the military alliance between the two countries.

In Japan as well as in the United States, there are people who argue that the Japan-U.S. alliance is in danger of collapse.

They are not just concerned about the delay in the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan or arguing that the treaty should be given a greater role in politics and economics. They are also concerned about the raison d'etre of the Japan-U.S. military alliance.

Prime Minister Aso Taro said, "The alliance for the security of Japan and its people remains totally unchanged," even after the upcoming change in the U.S. presidency. Clearly, this cannot be the course for the future.

Change in U.S.

The Japanese government has been following a policy of subservience to the United States "in order to protect the interests of the Japan-U.S. alliance." However, the failure of this policy has already been clear for several years. When the U.S. Bush administration ordered the invasion of Iraq, the Japanese government lost no time in throwing its support to the war, and extended military assistance to it in violation of the Constitution. The Iraq war resulted in failure, and Japan has been obliged to pull its Self-Defense Force units out of Iraq.

It is also clear that the "liberalization of money markets" and the policy of easing regulations, which Japan carried out at the U.S. beck and call, have added to the uncertainty of the financial market and contributed to the worsening of the real economy.

Look at what's going on in the United States. It is about to change itself.

In the face of international criticism, the Bush administration's unilateralism and preemptive attack strategy, employed in the Iraq War, ended in failure.

Even Kurt Campbell, a former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense who called for a stronger military alliance with Japan, stated that the U.S. in its involvement in the world has placed too much importance on its military while regarding its non-military engagement as insignificant.

Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haas, who has influence over U.S. foreign policy, stated, "The United States' unipolar moment is over."

Kent Calder, a former U.S. diplomat and specialist on Japan's affairs, defines the matter as the "Quiet crisis of the Pacific Alliance."

At a time when these arguments are arising in the United States, the Japanese government continues to devote itself to supporting U.S. policies by asserting that the Japan-U.S. alliance remains "unchanged as the axis of Japan's diplomacy."

Bound by the military alliance with the United States, Japan has been used as a stepping-stone for U.S. military interventions. The Japanese people, in particular the residents of Okinawa, have been affected by U.S. soldiers' sexual assaults and many other serious crimes as well as the noise danger from U.S. military aircraft.

Economically, Japanese farmers and consumers have fallen victim to the policy of opening markets to U.S. agricultural products. Why must the Japanese people continue to pay the cost of the government policy of giving the Japan-U.S. military alliance priority?

As part of the attempt to strengthen the Japan-U.S. military alliance's role in foreign military interventions, the Japanese government is rushing to adversely revise the Constitution and establish a permanent law to enable Japan to send its troops abroad at any time.

In order to show its allegiance to the United States, the Japanese government plans to send Maritime SDF units to waters near Somalia, and Ground SDF helicopter units to Afghanistan. All these steps, if implemented, will just help increase the contradictions between the military alliance and the real interests of the Japanese people.

Accompanying global current for peace

With U.S. unilateralism failing, new movements are arising throughout the world working to create a new international order of peace without military alliances. However, only the Japanese government is going against this world current by adhering to the military alliance, hampering Japan's contribution to global peace. If Japan abrogates the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty to become a genuinely equal U.S. partner, it will open new possibilities for Japan and the rest of the world.

Contradictions that emerged during the 50 years of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty cannot be erased by such an easy-going slogan as "once again redefining" the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty on its 50th anniversary. The only way to achieve true peace is for Japan to abrogate the military alliance with the United States.

-Akahata, January 5, 2009