The Catastrophe in the Offing

In last June the list of signers against the government’s “security bill” was presented to the Japanese Diet. Over 1.65 million Japanese people participated in the signature campaign which began early this year. The signers protested against the authority’s forcible enforcement of wrong policies including the approval of the exercise of the “right to collective self-defence” and insisted that the Diet should boycott the adoption of the controversial “security bill.”

Why then do the Japanese people come out against the law which will allegedly ensure the security of their country? Because when the law is amended, the scope of Japan’s Self Defense Forces’ overseas activities will be extended, endangering its security. In last April the United States and Japan revised the bilateral “defence cooperation guidelines.” The US-Japan “defence cooperation guidelines” is a brigandish aggression war document which has opened the way for Japan to embark on foreign invasion again by sending its SDF forces to any parts of the world under the cloak of munitions support to the US troops in case of contingency. This points to a new stage of the aggressive US-Japan military tie-up which has been strengthened in recent years. And its main target is the Korean peninsula. The US needs the Korean peninsula to establish its domination over the Asia-Pacific region while Japan is keeping an eye on the peninsula to invade it again.

The US is inflaming Japan’s ambition in an attempt to step up the building of its MD system by enlisting Japan in the realization of its Asia strategy in the name of sharing information about “north Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.” The US Department of Defense overtly announced that “it is imperative for the national interests of the US to help Japan get ready for its own defence by raising its intelligence and monitoring capabilities.” As a result, Japan is all out in an attempt to rearm itself and exercise the “right to collective self-defence.” Literally, it has now stepped into a danger zone. Japan is trying to scrap the pacifist constitution and preparing the Self Defense Forces for invasion of Korea and domination of the world.

Japan is now purchasing up-to-date weapons on a large scale from the US including early warning aircrafts, new-type radars and missiles in a craze for rearmament. This attests to what the Japanese have in view. The Japanese Defence Minister stated that it is possible for the SDF of Japan to strike north Korea’s bases in conjunction with the US by rearming themselves and exercising the “right to collective self-defence.” This clearly shows what a risky stage the military tie-up between the two countries for invasion of the DPRK has reached. Military experts have asserted that the “US-Japan defence cooperation guidelines” has incited Japan’s lust for exercising the “right to collective self-defence” by agreeing to share information between them.

Commenting on this, a high-ranking Japanese official, soon after the announcement of amendment of the guidelines, said that the colours and military boots of the SDF can appear at any places of the world at the request of the US. The former high intelligence bureau director of the Foreign Ministry of Japan expressed his strong discontent that the unstable regional situation will turn still more insecure if the SDF takes military actions around the world jointly with the US troops.

The unstable regional situation runs counter to the interests of the Japanese people. This is why they come out against the authorities’ behaviours. Japan is a defeated nation, beaten in the war of aggression they had started to conquer the whole of Asia in the last century. This year marks the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the war. But it is really a tragedy that the Japanese politicians are still dreaming the old dream of “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere,” instead of atoning for the crimes of their fathers by acknowledging, apologizing and making reparations for the wrongs they had done in their horrible history of aggression. It is only a matter of time that this tragedy will end up in a catastrophe.