Japan Press Weekly

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2013 July 31 - August 13 [POLITICS]

Without the hindrance of Article 9, SDF would have shot at Chinese military ship: LDP lawmaker

Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Councilors Katayama Satsuki on a TV political debate program aired by TV Asahi on July 29 said that if it were not for Article 9, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces could have shot a Chinese warship.

In the program, parliamentarians of political parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, debated the pros and cons of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.

Citing an incident in which a Chinese navy ship in January put a radar lock on a Japanese Maritime SDF destroyer in the East China Sea, Katayama said, “If there were no legal restrictions set under Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 9, the SDF would have been able to fire at the Chinese vessel.”

Although the act of putting a radar lock-on was unpardonable, Katayama’s remarks showed that it may soon be a matter of course for Japan to initiate aggressive responses which might result in a military conflict.

JCP Upper House member Koike Akira also appeared on the program.

Koike objected to Katayama by saying, “Diplomatic efforts to avoid creating conflict with China are what is needed”, and demanded that the Japanese government seriously work hard to resolve such incident through diplomacy.

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution:

(1) Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

(2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.