Tokyo moves fast to bolster its military role in face of threats from China, North Kore


The Tokyo government is reportedly seeking to revise the law governing its Self-Defense Forces’ U.N. peacekeeping operations to allow them to use force if an international organization outside their base is attacked.

The move has sparked controversy as the revision could contravene Article 9 in the “pacifist” constitution that bans Japan’s exercise of the right of collective self-defense ― the use of force to respond to an attack on an ally.

Japan’s daily Sankei Shimbun reported on Tuesday that the government would submit the revision bill to the Diet during its ongoing regular session.

The report came after the Frontier Subcommittee of the Council on National Strategy and Policy under the prime minister’s office claimed the need to recognize the archipelago state’s collective self-defense right last Friday.

“(The government) is considering submitting a bill to revise the PKO cooperation law,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters on Monday.

“It is a crucial task to (determine) how the SDF should respond when the life of an international organization employee is threatened. In order not to make field commanders confused (about their roles), we are considering making clear guidelines.”

The revision bill reportedly seeks to allow the SDF to use force to respond to an attack on international organizations outside their bases or PKO military installations that the SDF jointly uses with other countries’ forces.

Japan appears to seek to apply the concept of collective defense, albeit limitedly, to its PKO operations ― a realm of its military activities to which there is less political opposition.

Tokyo’s current constitutional interpretation is that the use of force against a terrorist entity whose scale is equivalent to that of a state could violate Article 9, but can be allowed for when there is an urgent need for immediate intervention to protect a citizen.

Japan’s political right has stressed the need for their country to assume a greater regional and global role beyond the defense of its own land.

They have argued that the legal interpretation should be altered to allow Japan’s troops to actively engage in global security operations led by its ally U.S. Such arguments have gained greater support due to continuing threats from China’s military buildup and an increasingly bellicose North Korea.

Tokyo has been engaged in increasingly strident territorial disputes with Beijing over a set of islands in the East China Sea, which are called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

Japan is now considering nationalizing the islands to manage them “stably and peacefully.” This move has sparked strong opposition from China and Taiwan.

Altering Tokyo’s interpretation of Article 9 is not an easy task given strong opposition from both within Japan and neighboring states where resentment over Japan’s wartime aggression still runs deep.

In 1947, Japan’s parliament approved its post-war constitution drafted by occupying U.S. officials. Article 9 states that the country renounces the use of war, and that any military forces as well as potential war materials should never be maintained.

Last month, Japan’s legislature passed the first revision in 34 years to the Atomic Energy Basic Act including “national security” among its goals, paving the way for the archipelago state’s nuclear armament.

Japan’s enhanced military might is likely to be welcomed by its key ally, the U.S., which strives to maintain its preeminence in the Asia-Pacific where the security landscape is changing amid the rise of China.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)