Japan Press Weekly

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2015 March 4 - 10 [POLITICS]

Abe gov’t wants to lift civilian controls over military restraints

Akahata ‘current’ column

Half a century ago, the revelation of a study conducted secretly by Self-Defense Force officers shocked the public. They aspired to reestablish a prewar-like national mobilization system. The study was called the Mitsuya Study.

It dealt with a fictitious war on the Korean Peninsula. Military officers in that study simulated the use of a nuclear bomb and established Japan-U.S. joint operations command. They even discussed imposing a ban on strikes and the enactment of a secrecy law as a way to secure public order.

The study, however, drew sharp criticism as a move to circumvent civilian controls, spurring public distrust in the Self-Defense Forces.

In deep remorse over the prewar runaway military machine, Japan after the war’s end established a framework under which defense bureaucrats or civilian officials control SDF policy. The postwar Constitution also stipulates, “The Prime Minister and other Ministers of State must be civilians.”

Civilian supremacy puts politics ahead of the military, which is a fundamental principle of democracy.

The present government, however, is seeking to change the existing framework. It recently decided to remove civilian control provisions from the Law for the Establishment of the Defense Ministry. It instead will allow military officers to control the SDF.

Strengthening the power of military authority will put the future of this country in danger. Now that the present government seeks a Japan with troops capable of engaging in wars aboard, the public needs to keep an eye on government moves more than ever before and to block pro-belligerent politicians and a resurgence of a “runaway military machine”.