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Archbishop of Nagasaki's speech, continued |
(Continued from part 1...)
All these moves are unconstitutional.
Article 9 of Japan’s Peace Constitution states, “Land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.” In the 60 years since the Constitution was promulgated, no person has been killed under the right of belligerency of the Japanese state.” The missile defense system violates Article 9, the Triple Principles of Weapon Export Ban, the principle of peaceful use of space、and the prohibition of the right of collective defense. Already in 2000, a report entitled “The United States and Japan: Advancing toward a more Mature Partnership,” prepared by the Pentagon’s special committee chaired by the undersecretary of Defense Richard Armitage openly urged Japan to remove its constitutional restraints on the exercise of the right to “collective defense.” The Armitage report said this restraint was a major impediment to a “mature alliance” to be shaped after the model of the Anglo-American alliance and therefore should be removed. This was tantamount to demanding that Japan remove Article 9 by revising its constitution. A new Armitage report “The U.S.–Japan Alliance: Getting Asia Rights through 2020” published on February 17 says the alliance should remain at the core of U.S. strategy in Asia.
Japan has a no-nuclear policy based on the three principles of not possessing, not building and not importing nuclear weapons. And yet, this policy (especially not importing nuclear weapons) has been conveniently ignored both by the Japanese government and the U.S. Forces based in Japan. Yokosuka is a home base for the 7th Fleet. The cruisers and destroyers deployed there carry more than 546 Tomahawk missiles. George Washington, Nuclear Submarine, will be deployed at Yokosuka for the first time next year. Of 11 warships deployed there, 9 are Aegis. The citizens movement against the deployment of George Washington collected 500,000 signatures. The total population of Yokosuka is around 420,000. Though the city council passed a resolution against the deployment in 2005, the mayor now defends the Yokosuka base as the forefront of the ballistic missile defense. Deployment of advanced Patriot interceptor missiles (Kadena, Okinawa) and U.X. X-Band radar system (Shariki, Aomori), General Security of Military Information Agreement, are underway to enable and complete the ballistic missile system. Okinawa has the biggest arsenal in Asia that can store more than 50,000 tons of ammunition in 500 installations. Depleted uranium bullets, Cluster bombs and Daisy cutters are some of the weapons confirmed to be there. Considering the U.S. defense strategy, it is highly possible that tactical nuclear weapons are stored. In 1965, a hydrogen bomb on-board attack plane fell out of the aircraft carrier “Ticonderoga” in the open sea near Okinawa. The incident was made public only after 24 years by the New York Times. Retired navy captain Eugene Carole of the “Midway” in an interview made in 1989 affirmed that an aircraft carrier carries nuclear weapons in the open sea. The policy of the Japanese government is never to question the U.S. about the presence of nuclear weapons in Japan’s land, sea and air since the U.S. is aware of Japan’s no-nuclear policy.
Prime Minister Abe who is an important ally of the administration of Mr. Bush is committed to revise Article 9 in order to make Japan a country legitimately militarized even with nuclear weapons. You should know the nature of the government of the Liberal Democratic Party to question if American people should accept and approve a “mature alliance” as proposed by Mr. Armitage between the two countries. Do American people really want to support the government of Mr. Abe and what he is intending to do in near future, including the revision of our Peace Constitution to make Japan a country legitimately militarized with nuclear arms? The second is the utmost importance of keeping Japan’s peace constitution as a necessary means for peace and stability in the world especially in the Asia Pacific region. Japan without Article 9 would be a serious threat to neighboring countries that had a negative experience of Japan’s aggressive colonization. Article 9, we believe, is a relevant response even for the entire world.
After five years of rule by Prime Minister Koizumi, Japan came under a far-right government headed by Shinzo Abe on September, 2006. Abe built up his political career as tough advocate of historical revisionism, which justifies the imperial past of modern Japan. He played leading roles in all the far-right’s campaigns against the “masochist view of history” on school textbooks to deny the historical truths on “comfort women” and the “Nanjing massacre” to cite only two. His professed mission is to abolish the current Constitution that was made “under occupation” and establish a new constitution “made in Japan” based on “traditional Japanese values”. The slogan he used in campaigning for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party was “a beautiful country – Japan” based on patriotism and family values. The cabinet and the prime minister’s office are closely related to the two organizations that campaign for the change of the Constitution as well as for the cult of the Emperor as “the heart of Japan’s social self-understanding.” (Japan Conference Parliamentary Caucus and Shinto Giren).
North Korea’s nuclear weapons test last October served to justify the militarization of Japan, to neutralize the argument against the revision of Article 9 and to defend the sanction against North Korea including military sanction. At the United Nations, Japan energetically worked to produce a resolution mentioning Article 43 of Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter that opens the way to military sanction. Also the nuclear weapons test ignited all kinds of belligerent and bellicose utterances of some members of the government of Mr. Abe. Nakagawa, Chair of the LDP Policy Board proposed a discussion on whether Japan should possess nuclear weapons.(October 15, 2006) Foreign Minister Aso defended Nagakawa by saying that he had the right to freedom of speech. This is the first time in the post war history of Japan that a Foreign Minister spoke positively of nuclear weapons, which shocked many Japanese who have maintained their commitment to an anti-nuclear stance for 61 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The danger is that these politicians are irresponsibly playing with politics, expecting the audience to cheer for a more militarized Japan. Member of the House of Representative Koichi Kato, who was Director General of Defense Agency (today Ministry of Defense) of the ruling party, indicated that such nuclear armament discussion can even lead to the collapse of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Japan, whose Self Defense Forces constitute one of the strongest military forces in the world, would, without Article 9, pose a serious threat to neighboring countries of Asia. The defense budget of Japan is the third biggest in the world next to the U.S. and Russia. “Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution has been a foundation for collective security throughout the Asia Pacific Region” (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict submitted to the UN, July 2005). The commitment of Prime Minister Abe to abolish Article 9 strongly supported by the administration of Mr. Bush is extremely dangerous.
Click here for part three of this speech.
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