Japan Press Weekly

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2009 February 25 - March 3 [US FORCES]

Dangerous ‘alliance to deal with many issues’

Akahata editorial

Japanese Prime Minister Aso Taro and U.S. President Barack Obama held their first Japan-U.S. summit in Washington on February 25 (local time). The two agreed to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance into one that can deal with many issues, including the global economic crisis, Afghanistan and other security issues, and climate change.

The U.S. failure in the Iraq War has given rise to calls for peace to be achieved through political and diplomatic resolutions of international disputes without using military force. Going against this current, the Japan-U.S. summit talks extolled a stronger bilateral alliance with the military as its key element.

People will be forced to suffer more

Aso and Obama confirmed the plan to steadily implement the realignment and strengthening of the U.S. forces stationed in Japan, including the implementation of an agreement in which Japan shoulders the financial burden of military facilities in Guam in the name of transferring to Guam a part of the U.S. Marines in Okinawa.

The U.S. military realignment was launched under the former Bush administration to strengthen the capability to carry out U.S. military intervention by quickly projecting U.S. forces to any place in the world by exercising hegemonic unilateral actions represented by the preemptive attack strategy. The realignment will incorporate Japan more closely into the U.S. military strategy.

We do not see reason why Japan with the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution has to accept the U.S. military strategy. Prime Minister Aso’s uncritical acceptance of any U.S. request goes against the world trends for peace.

The ongoing U.S. military realignment is forcing Japanese people to endure more suffering. The plan to build a new base in Okinawa, which the Japanese and U.S. governments are trying to impose on Okinawans, will force them to endure noise from U.S. military aircraft and the possible danger of crashes. The plan to transform the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture will significantly increase aircraft noise, because carrier-borne aircraft units will be transferred there from the U.S. Atsugi Naval Air Facility in Kanagawa Prefecture.

The U.S. military realignment in Japan will cost Japan three trillion yen. If it is to be completed by 2014 in accordance with the agreed Japan-U.S. ‘Roadmap,’ Japan will be forced to pay each year about 0.5 trillion yen in tax money. This means that cutbacks in expenditures on social programs are likely.

We cannot overlook the fact that Aso reportedly offered to increase and accelerate Japan’s assistance to Afghanistan. We know that the situation in Afghanistan is disastrous as more and more civilians are being killed amid increasing U.S. military operations. The need now is to end the war there.

If Japan cooperates with the Obama administration, which has decided to send more troops into Afghanistan to intensify its military strategy, Japan will have to go against the international effort to reconstruct and stabilize Afghanistan. Japan’s assistance to the U.S. Aafghan strategy will have disastrous consequences.

Obama must listen to Japanese people

Facing the failures of unilateralism in military and economic fields, the U.S. Obama administration took office calling for “change.” However, as far as the recent Japan-U.S. summit talks are concerned, the Obama administration has come up with no major change in the U.S. policy of giving priority to the Japan-U.S. military alliance which imposes various burdens and sacrifices on Japan.

President Obama stated in his inaugural address, “America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity.” If that is his message, Obama should listen to the Japanese people in earnest. If he refuses to do so, he will just help stir up distrust and anger even among Japanese people who have been expecting more than just rhetoric from the Obama administration’s promise of “change.”