Japan PM to overturn pacifist defence policy

The Guardian ^ | 06/30/2014 | Justin McCurry

[SeekAndFind]

Postwar constitution bans use of force in international disputes, which Shinzo Abe says inhibits country's ability to protect itself.

Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is to defy public opinion and announce a dramatic shift in the country's defence policy that would make it easier for its troops to fight in overseas conflicts.

Abe's cabinet is expected to adopt a resolution on Tuesday that would end Japan's long-standing ban on exercising collective self-defence, or coming to the aid of an ally under attack even if Japan itself is not threatened.

Japan's postwar constitution prohibits the use of force to settle international disputes – a restriction Abe and his supporters say inhibits the country's ability to protect itself and its allies, despite growing fears over North Korea's nuclear programme and China's aggressive territorial claims in the region.

Abe's decision to introduce legislation that would reinterpret the pacifist clause in the constitution, which has prevented Japanese forces from fighting overseas since the end of the second world war, came after opinion polls indicated he would struggle to win enough support in parliament and among voters for outright constitutional reform.

The change to be approved on Tuesday would require a simple majority in both houses; his ruling Liberal Democratic party [LDP] has a comfortable majority in the lower house and controls the upper house with the support of a junior coalition partner. Changing the wording of the constitution, however, would require a two-thirds majority in both houses and a simple majority in a nationwide referendum.

[GeronL]

The PM cannot unilaterally rewrite the Constitution

[skeeter]

At least someone is doing something to save the US taxpayer a few bucks.

[AU72]

The CHICOMs are poking the wrong country with a stick.

[Star Traveler]

As long as Japan doesn’t attack the USA again ... :-) ...

Japan should be more active in this area!

[molson209]

Japan left some unfinished business with China

[SeekAndFind]

RE: The PM cannot unilaterally rewrite the Constitution

The article says he’s planning to propose a referendum.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Japan left some unfinished business with China

For those who were not born during the second world war... BEWARE A RESURGENT MILITARY JAPAN !!

They were CRUEL and BRUTAL ( China still remembers the Rape of Nanjing ).

[AppyPappy]

You mean China has some unfinished business with Japan.

[mojito]

Add up a belligerent China and a weak US under the steady hand of Barry 0’Bozo and you get Rising Sun, part II.

Should be a helluva sequel.

[gura]

Why would any Asian nation in their right minds go about antagonizing the Japanese, considering the long history of Japan completely conquering the crap out of all of East Asia on one fell swoop.

I’ve heard the humorous adage “Never Fight A Land War In Asia” repeated, but that rule of warfare doesn’t apply to Japan.

The USA finally defeated the Japanese, but we did it yard by blood-soaked yard with flamethrowers at a terrible cost in human lives and ultimately had to produce an appallingly expensive secret weapon to vaporize their cities and end the war rather than launching an attack on the Japanese homeland. As a result of inventing this terrible weapon our world has never been the same since.

God’s sakes, Asia. Stop poking at the Japanese. They’re at least 300 years into the future compared to the rest of you twits. Every Asian attempt to conquer Japan has failed miserably, yet Japan has enslaved all of Asia three or four times already with little more than steely determination and sharp knives.

If Buddha wanted you to defeat Japan, he’d have blessed you dumbasses with a miracle. Knock it off already and get over it.

[Sam Gamgee]

Yes, they were brutal, but if they can up the ante against our real enemy, China, all the better. Don’t forget how the Chinese fought the Korean War, ignoring Geneva conventions. China can take its tendency to wallow in self pity of what happened half a century ago, and stuff it.

[PapaBear3625]

BEWARE A RESURGENT MILITARY JAPAN !! They were CRUEL and BRUTAL ( China still remembers the Rape of Nanjing ).

FAR more Chinese people were murdered by the Chinese Communist Party than by the Japanese. Who, thus, gets the title of "most cruel and brutal"?

[Sam Gamgee]

I don't know. If I was a tiny rock like Japan surrounded by a nuclear China and North Korea I would be scared shitless. Their BEST counter to a nuclear strike is to monitor for missile ignition and then scramble jets to hit the missile silos. I wouldn't call that much of a strategy.

[topher]

I consider this good news. They have islands that Russia stole from them.

And China has been doing some wicked things around them...

And I don't think with a turkey like Obama as President, the Japanese may not be comfortable with US protecting them...

[Sam Gamgee]

I agree. And if Japan and India and Korea can start footing the bill for East Asian security, rather than freeloading from the US, all the better.

[topher]

You wrote:

[The Japanese] ... were CRUEL and BRUTAL ,,,

I have heard for the right price (in China today), the ChiComs will allow a condemned prisoner to be bayoneted to death in such a fashion to allow ORGAN HARVESTING.

Some of these people have been convicted [in China] of possessing a Bible. Others might be Political Dissenters.

Who are the Cruel and Brutal.

Maybe Japan in World War II. But definitely the ChiComs of today might top that, in some respects.

[ifinnegan]

Chinese Communists were more cruel and brutal to Chinese than Japanese ever were.

[roadcat]

FAR more Chinese people were murdered by the Chinese Communist Party than by the Japanese. Who, thus, gets the title of "most cruel and brutal"?

Cruelty and brutality has reared it's ugly head in many Asian countries. Cambodian communists killed millions of their middle and upper class in barbaric fashion. Chinese communists were brutal in the Korean War. These were deeds done by people in power in Asian nations. Happened before, will happen again (perhaps by the North Koreans if they overrun the south).

[Bratch]