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Fearing military constraint, China warns Japan against constitutional changes
Washington Examiner ^ | July 12, 2022 01:06 PM | Tom Rogan

Posted on 07/12/2022 11:56:08 AM PDT by Zhang Fei

The landslide victory of the governing Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito alliance in Japan's upper parliamentary house on Sunday means that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has both the mandate and means to amend the constitution. The prospective changes would allow Japan to use military force in more circumstances and bolster its offensive combat capabilities. On Monday, Kishida suggested he would move to make these changes without delay. They would have to be approved by a public referendum, even if the country's parliament did give its assent. But it is clear that Japan is moving toward a more robust deterrence doctrine in the West Pacific.

Japan sees escalating Chinese threats to Taiwan and aggressive joint Sino-Russian incursions near Japanese waters and airspace. It also faces pressure from the U.S. to take a more robust stance. Yet, while Kishida is set to make big boosts to defense spending, it will take years for Japan to reach even 2%-of-GDP annual defense allotments. Significantly more than that will be necessary to deter China and provide credible support to the U.S. military in any war. Japan particularly needs more longer-range missiles, submarines, and a higher level of readiness on the part of its naval and air forces.

Regardless, these moves are positive. Alongside Australia, Japan recognizes that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which most U.S. military and intelligence officers believe is likely to occur by 2030, would dramatically undermine its own security and sovereignty. Were China to conquer Taiwan, its forces would be within 70 miles of Japan's Yaeyama Islands. Those islands eventually connect to Okinawa and then the southern Japanese home island of Kyushu. To put Japanese concerns in perspective, imagine if Taiwan was 70 miles from Guam. Xi Jinping's imperial destiny-driven ambitions have made Japan wake up to a very dangerous new reality.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abe; abeassassination; and; assassination; china; japan; ldp; pep; russia; taiwan
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If China conquers Taiwan, its forces would be closer to Okinawa than Kyushu (home of Nagasaki, the second city targeted by an atomic bomb), the closest part of mainland Japan to the Ryukyu island chain (of which Okinawa is the biggest piece).
1 posted on 07/12/2022 11:56:08 AM PDT by Zhang Fei
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To: Zhang Fei

China is a cancer on this earth


2 posted on 07/12/2022 12:01:54 PM PDT by toddausauras (How far will the left go in terms of destroying our personal freedoms?)
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To: Zhang Fei

Damn, these SOBs are bold.


3 posted on 07/12/2022 12:01:55 PM PDT by dljordan
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To: Zhang Fei

Japan should pop off a “peaceful” nuke....like India.


4 posted on 07/12/2022 12:02:00 PM PDT by DCBryan1 (Delete FB, TWTR, GOOGL, AMZN, YHOO, Gmail/chrome. Use Gab, Brave + DDG, VPN, Freerepublic )
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To: Zhang Fei
Japan killing millions of Chinese citizens during WW2 is the last few years of what China today refers to as their century of humiliation. It drives so much of their ambition to restore honor to their culture.

Basically, China today would probably still be Japan's "comfort woman" if Japan hadn't made the mistake of attacking Pearl Harbor.

5 posted on 07/12/2022 12:03:57 PM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Zhang Fei
Wonder if they will change the Japanese constitution to reinstall the Emperor as head of state, recreating the Empire of Japan.

That would make some butts pucker in Beijing.

6 posted on 07/12/2022 12:04:39 PM PDT by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
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To: toddausauras; bert
"China is a cancer on this earth"

And the Free Traitors™ that profit with them.

7 posted on 07/12/2022 12:05:42 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: toddausauras

“China is a cancer on this earth”

Yes, it is and potentially the greatest cancer on the earth in world history.


8 posted on 07/12/2022 12:06:45 PM PDT by laplata (They want each crisis to take the greatest toll possible.)
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To: Zhang Fei

The tiny island of Japan totally destroyed Chinas military. The Japanese are a warrior people and that is what China fears.


9 posted on 07/12/2022 12:08:12 PM PDT by McGavin999 (To shut down the border tell the administration the cartel is smuggling Ivermectin )
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To: McGavin999

” The Japanese are a warrior people and that is what China fears.”

Yes, but 75 years of breeding out that ethos has taken its toll.

Still, Japan can yet become formidable if it has the time and the inclination.


10 posted on 07/12/2022 12:16:50 PM PDT by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule. )
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To: Tell It Right

Ironically, Japan hit Pearl Harbor because their thought was that the US would not intervene, and they could then have a clean run at the oil fields in SE Asia. They were wrong.

The irony is that now China thinks they can take out the US bases in Okinawa and Guam, and they would have a clean run at Taiwan.

It is time for us to change our China policy.


11 posted on 07/12/2022 12:17:01 PM PDT by beancounter13 (A Republic, if you can keep it.)
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To: McGavin999

Japan is two full generations removed from its former warrior culture. The majority of modern Japanese warriors do their fighting on video games in-between watching anime and porn.


12 posted on 07/12/2022 12:17:49 PM PDT by Rebelbase (Crush, smash and obliterate the Liberal New World Order)
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To: Zhang Fei

It is thought that the Chineses strategy is to secure the First Island Chain, meaning the Spratleys, the Paracels, and the whole of the South China Sea; Taiwan, Okinawa, and the Philippines, opening the whole Western Pacific to Chinese hegemony. Taiwan is the key to opening the door. Next to fall would be the Ryukyus and Japan. Thus it is clear that the fall of Taiwan to China would pose An existential threat to Japan.


13 posted on 07/12/2022 12:19:21 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: marcusmaximus; Paul R.; Bruce Campbells Chin; PIF; familyop; MercyFlush; tet68; BeauBo; TalBlack; ..

Ukraine ping

Biden’s slow-walking of ammo and equipment to Ukraine as a quid pro quo for Putin’s payments to Hunter through Burisma via his lapdog (and Burisma’s owner) Zlochevsky continues to pay dividends. In 2014, the Ukrainian parliament impeached Viktor Yanukovich for attempting to make himself dictator and for massacring the demonstrators at Maidan Square. Zlochevsky, Burisma’s owner, served in Yanukovich’s cabinet. When Yanukovich fled Ukraine to rendezvous with his master Putin in Moscow, Zlochevsky also ran.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykola_Zlochevsky

Note that Yanukovich and Zlochevsky were in a pro-Russian administration, which is to say they wanted Ukraine to be a Russian province. Even assuming Zlochevsky was acting in his own capacity rather than as a cutout for Putin, the reason he paid Biden was to assist Russia in its quest to conquer Ukraine, not help Ukraine remain independent.

But Russian propagandists will tell you that “Ukraine” paid Biden to get US aid. In reality, Putin may have funneled bribes to Biden using Burisma’s owner as a middleman.


14 posted on 07/12/2022 12:20:35 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Zhang Fei

Japan has relied on the United States for their defense for too long. It used to be that Japan’s defense posed an increasingly unmanageable burden on the U.S. Now the problem lies with United States will. With the U.S. withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan, and our slow-walk on Ukraine, the United States has shown that we cannot be depended upon.


15 posted on 07/12/2022 12:23:47 PM PDT by nagant
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To: Zhang Fei

Time to make changes if just to say “Eff you, Chicoms!”


16 posted on 07/12/2022 12:52:19 PM PDT by Little Ray (Civilization runs on a narrow margin. What sustains it is not magic, but hard work. )
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To: McGavin999
The Japanese are a warrior people and that is what China fears.

That is the stereotype regarded as the single reason Japanese are formidable. There is a much stronger stereotype in play - the Japanese are deeply quality-conscious. Everything they do is a reflection of perfection when creating. Not so much for the Chinese, who make inferior products and cut corners with no pride in quality-control. That is how a small island nation can take on the world around them. It's a cultural thing. Sounds racist, to claim that African nations are poor and unsuccessful because of the culture, while Japan is successful because of the culture, but it is what it is. Current Communist Chinese culture is immoral without regard to humane concerns.

If Japan makes constitutional changes, Japan will be a strong counterweight against Chinese incursions to other Pacific nations.

17 posted on 07/12/2022 12:54:27 PM PDT by roadcat
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To: beancounter13

“Ironically, Japan hit Pearl Harbor because their thought was that the US would not intervene, and they could then have a clean run at the oil fields in SE Asia. They were wrong.”

Japan hit Pearl Harbor because it wanted to KEEP the US from intervening. If the US Pacific Fleet could be hobbled Japan could concentrate on the exploitation of the Southeast Asian resources, especially oil and rubber, all without interference from the US. Japan assumed — correctly — that Britain would have its hands full fighting Germany in the North Atlantic, and thus its Pacific naval assets would be negligible.

The next time US and Japanese naval forces fought each other in any kind of major action was in May, 1942 at the Battle of the Coral Sea, which, when all things are considered, amounted to pretty much a draw. Yes, the US lost the Lexington, but the battle stalled the Japanese offensive in the South Pacific. Then, of course, one month later Japan lost for good its naval power at Midway. Oh, there were subsequent engagements and sea battles, but after Midway Japan’s naval forces were strictly operating defensively.


18 posted on 07/12/2022 1:03:04 PM PDT by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule. )
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To: ought-six

” The Japanese are a warrior people and that is what China fears.”

**************************************************************

Yes Sir they are! Example: 21,000 Japanese fought on Iwo. 20,703 died (source: Answers.com)

Our Marines (God Bless every single one of them!!!), can attest to this fact.......i.e. “the Japanese will fight”.


19 posted on 07/12/2022 1:07:50 PM PDT by Cen-Tejas
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To: Rebelbase

Controlling missile and drone systems isn’t much different.

Defending every square inch of every island like they did in WWII is another story


20 posted on 07/12/2022 1:16:58 PM PDT by shotgun
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