Upgrading Defense Agency to ministry level to fight wars abroad

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Upgrading Defense Agency to ministry level to fight wars abroad
Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The government intends to have two defense-related bills enacted in the current Diet session. One is to revise the Defense Agency Law to upgrade the agency into a full-fledged ministry. The other is to revise the Self-Defense Forces Law to make SDF's overseas activities its primary mission.

These two bills are designed to establish a system enabling Japan to fight wars abroad based on the Japanese and United States government policy of a "Japan-U.S. alliance in the global context."

We reject such an attempt to accelerate building a setup to wage war in advance of an adverse constitutional revision to make the SDF constitutional.

Turning the Defense Agency into a defense ministry is not a nominal change but an issue concerning the basic standpoint of Japan's defense administration.

The defense minister will have the authority to call for holding cabinet meetings, issue ministerial ordinances, and make budget requests without approval of the prime minister.

Based on the remorse over its war of aggression caused by arbitrary decisions by the military, Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution declares the renunciation of war, non-possession of war potential, and denial of the right of belligerency.

As a result, the government has been obliged to assert that the SDF is "a defensive force with the minimum necessary capability for self-defense," and to maintain the Defense Agency as an agency established under the Cabinet Office.

Successive prime ministers have refused to upgrade the agency to a ministry based on the reflection upon the fact that in prewar days the military had arbitrarily pushed ahead with territorial expansion policies, ignoring other ministries including the foreign affairs ministry.

Then Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke, who was the grandfather of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and who had been a minister of commerce and industry in the Tojo Cabinet that had launched the Pacific War, stated in the Diet in 1960, "Under the new Constitution, we must not allow the resurgence of the military that existed under the old constitution. The notion of a defense ministry inevitably gives rise to concern."

In 1986, then Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro also stated in the Diet, "Taking into consideration the Constitution as well as other factors, it is appropriate to keep the Defense Agency as an agency under direct control of the prime minister."

The government is fervently strengthening a setup to wage war, learning no lessons from Japan's past war of aggression and abandoning the stance that the successive governments have taken. It is natural that this government has caused serious concern in and out of Japan.

The upgrading of the DA to a ministry has nothing to do with Japan's self-defense but is a step to allow Japan to wage wars abroad together with U.S. forces.

Simply complying with U.S. requests, the government intends to enable the SDF to play the same role as the British forces now play. The British forces fight wars with the U.S. forces in concert.

However, the majority of the world's nations is in favor of peaceful diplomatic resolution to international disputes, as demonstrated in the response of the international community to the North Korean nuclear test.

Japan's position prioritizing military measures is aberrant. This will invite negative repercussions from other Asian countries and the rest of the world.

Since Japan is called on to make full use of Article 9 of the Constitution, these two defense-related bills must be scrapped.
- Akahata, October 26, 2006