Asia should beware siren call to war of Washington and Tokyo
What makes the repetition of history worryingly impending in East Asia is the role the United States is playing in setting the stage for the revival of the militarist tradition in an ambitious country that has never ceased to pursue a larger-than-life existence in the region and beyond.
Undoubtedly, Tokyo is taking full advantage of Washington’s intention of making Japan — a country that has never forsaken its martial traditions and which has never seriously repented its past aggression — an accomplice in its encircling of China. In doing so, the US is exposing itself as a security saboteur, rather than the guardian of regional peace it claims to be.
Speaking at a public debate on Monday with leaders of eight other political parties ahead of Japan’s lower house election on Oct 31, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called for increases in the country’s military capacity and spending in response to what he described as growing threats from China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Echoing the false cries of alarm Washington keeps shrilling in the region, that have put everyone on edge.
Kishida’s remarks show that emboldened by Washington, Tokyo is accelerating its bid to break free of the restraints of its war-renouncing Constitution. Kishida claimed that Japan’s security environment has been rapidly changing, and Japan should consider acquiring the ability to strike at “enemy bases” as a deterrence, allowable under international law, saying that “We have to prepare for realistic possibilities to protect our people and discuss a wide range of options”.
Kishida, who was elected the 100th prime minister of Japan on Oct 4, had already expounded on “pre-emptive strikes” and “strike-back options” in an interview with the media on the weekend, saying he would consider specifying the possession of capabilities to destroy enemy missile bases by revising the National Security Strategy, which he wants to do “as soon as possible”. He also expressed hopes of visiting the US for a summit with US President Joe Biden by the end of the year.
That he feels no qualms about the fact that these so-called security moves are at odds with the country’s Constitution, which strictly limits the use of force to self-defense, raises the question how a longterm dovish politician such as Kishida can immediately become a hawk on becoming leader of the country. To win support in the elections might be a reason. That’s exactly how the militarists rose to power in the country before World War II.
His remarks were akin to the hyping up of nonexistent threats and the urgency of protecting its people, that the Japanese militarists used to justify their warmongering actions targeting the country’s neighbors — particularly China and Korea — which culminated in a full-scale invasion of most countries in the Asia-Pacific during WWII.
All regional countries should be vigilant to the warmongering chorus of Tokyo and Washington. And any efforts of the Japanese government to revise the country’s pacifist Constitution should be condemned by the international community as an open challenge to the post-war order and regional peace.