Japan Press Weekly

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2023 June 21 - 27 [POLITICS]

Kami: Int'l community would determine that Japan has become offensive military power

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Kami Tomoko on June 19 criticized Japan's new international cooperation framework "Official Security Assistance (OSA)" for making Japan a military threat to other countries.

At a meeting of the House special committee on ODA, Kami said that many people in their responses to Public Feedback on the new development cooperation charter which the Cabinet announced on June 9 expressed concern that OSA could deviate from Japan's principle of restriction to non-military cooperation set under the ODA charter.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that OSA is an arrangement separate from ODA.

Kami took up the response given by "No War Network", a group of NGOs promoting international cooperation and exchange: "In the eyes of recipient countries, OSA is assistance from Japan, the same as ODA."

She noted that No War Network in its statement said, "From our experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, we know that weapons cannot secure peace."

Kami also noted that Time Magazine and Reuters reported that Japan has abandoned its adherence to pacifism and is moving in a direction toward extensive militarization. She said that OSA could be used for military purposes and that the international community would determine that Japan has become fully militarized, and demanded that the OSA charter be rescinded.

Past related article:
> JCP Yamazoe calls for abolition of new program enabling provision of military aid to ‘like-minded countries’ [April 14, 2023]