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New
Japanese Leader Looks to Expand Nation's Military |
Posted:
09.20.06
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Japan's next prime minister, Shinzo Abe, plans to expand the
military and redraw the country's pacifist constitution, which
was created during America's occupation following World War II.
Printer-friendly version: PDF
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 Shinzo
Abe was elected Wednesday to a three-year term as the president
of Japan's leading Liberal Democratic Party. He is all but guaranteed
to become the Asian country's next prime minister in next week's
elections.
''I want to make Japan a country that is trusted and loved by
the countries of the world, and one that asserts leadership,''
Abe, the current chief Cabinet secretary, said after winning,
according to The New York Times.
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Time to change
the constitution? |
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At 51 years old, Abe, son of a foreign minister and grandson
of a prime minister, will be Japan's youngest prime minister in
100 years.
While most policies under Abe are expected to remain the same,
he has expressed a desire to encourage schools to teach more Japanese
patriotism and to amend Japan's pacifist constitution.
 The
current constitution, which was written with the guidance of U.S.
occupation forces after World War II, rejects war as a means of
solving international disputes.
"I want to realize a new constitution that is written by
our own hands," Abe said when announcing his candidacy for
prime minister, the Weekend Australian newspaper reported.
Abe wrote a book this past year, "Toward a Beautiful Country,"
in which he outlines a Japan that would have greater military
powers.
"Even if a spy ship loaded with weapons of mass destruction
were to come into the Tokyo Bay to attack Japan, we cannot eliminate
the ship unless it attacks us," Abe wrote. "It is obvious
that we are reaching the limit in narrowing down differences between
Japan's security and the interpretation of our constitution."
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Article 9 |
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The part of the constitution in question is Article 9, which
prevents Japan from using force, or warfare, except strictly in
self-defense.
 Article
9 also prohibits the nation from maintaining an army, navy, or
air force. Japan does have Self Defense Forces, but they are considered
an extension of the national police force.
In addition to this revision, Abe is expected to push for permanent
legislation that would allow the Self Defense Forces to be sent
overseas as part of international peace-keeping missions and to
improve the country's missile defense system as a response to
threats from North Korea, the Japan Times reported.
Changing Japan's constitution is politically difficult; any change
would require two-thirds support in both legislative chambers,
known as the Diet.
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Neighbors
do not want the change |
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 Regional
neighbors fear that such a revision will fuel Japanese nationalism.
"Abe's advocacy of constitutional revision is a pre-announcement
of the beginning of Japanese power diplomacy," according
to an editorial in the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.
North Korea also objected to the plan.
"In essence, the present Japan is trying to turn itself
into the old Japan, which invaded Asian countries and provoked
war," Minju Joson, the official Korean Central News Agency,
reported. "And Abe is in the forefront."
Japan's neighbors also are upset by visits Japanese leaders,
including Abe, have made to a controversial war shrine.
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Controversial
shrine visits |
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The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo honors more than 2.5 million people
who died in wartime, including convicted war criminals from WWII.
The shrine also contains a museum that some say distorts Japan's
role in WWII, stating the country was forced into war with the
United States and that its invasion of Asia was intended to liberate
the region from colonial rule, Bloomberg News reported.
For Japan's neighbors, the shrine symbolizes Japan's militarism
and extreme nationalism.
 Leaders
from China and South Korea refused to hold summit meetings with
the outgoing prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, after he visited
the shrine.
South Korean officials formally have asked Abe to stop the visits.
"It's regrettable that our recent bilateral ties have entered
a difficult phrase. I hope Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe will play
a role [in easing the tension] by paying special attention to
the problem in the future," said South Korean Foreign Affairs
and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon, Tokyo's Daily Yomiuri newspaper
reported.
Some American lawmakers also have spoken out about the controversial
shrine visits.
"Paying one's respect to war criminals is morally bankrupt
and unworthy of a great nation such as Japan," said Representative
Tom Lantos, a California Democrat on the International Relations
Committee, and himself a refugee of the Holocaust in Europe. "This
practice must end."
--Compiled
by Annie Schleicher for NewsHour Extra
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