Japan Press Weekly

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2009 February 25 - March 3 TOP3 [US FORCES]

Shii says Ozawa’s argument for ‘Japan-U.S. alliance on an equal footing’ is deceptive

“It is deceptive for Democratic Party President Ozawa Ichiro to call for Japan-U.S. relations to be built on an equal footing while on the other hand agreeing with the U.S. secretary of state to further strengthen the alliance between the two countries,” said Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo.

He made the remark on February 26 in answer to reporters’ questions concerning Ozawa’s meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on February 17 in Tokyo.

Ozawa stated that the Japan-U.S. alliance should be “on an equal footing” though he “completely agreed” to Clinton’s proposal to strengthen the alliance. Also, he referred to “trimming down the role of the U.S. military in Japan in the future and reaching an agreement for Japan to assume a greater role for its own security.”

Commenting on the Ozawa remarks, Shii said as follows:

“The Japan-U.S. alliance is a military alliance that binds Japan as a junior partner. In this framework, Japan one-sidedly has offered to host U.S. military bases, and the U.S. forces have the freedom to use them for their own purposes. In joint Japan-U.S. military operations, the U.S. forces have control over Japan’s Self-Defense Forces. It is also humiliating that Japan has a status of forces agreement with the United States, an agreement that gives the U.S. extraterritorial rights.

He is deceiving the public by advocating a Japan-U.S. relationship on an equal footing while agreeing to strengthen the alliance that binds Japan as a subordinate ally.”

Shii also criticized Ozawa for stating that reduction of U.S. bases in Japan is possible if Japan increases its military power. He said:

“If Japan pushes ahead with the reinforcement of the Self-Defense Forces within the framework of the Japan-U.S. alliance, it will lead to the buildup of Japanese military forces which the United States will find instrumental to its own global dominance, making Japan’s subordination to the United States deeper still. It will also increase the danger of the Self-Defense Forces being sent abroad in violation of the Constitution. That is a really dangerous path for Japan to tread.

If Japan is to build a genuinely equal relationship with the United States, it should break away from the present arms buildup policy to establish a disarmament policy of removing foreign military bases from Japan and abrogating the Japan-U.S. military alliance.”