Forced into a humiliating surrender at the
close of World War II after two of its cities were nuked, Japan vowed never
again to engage in armed conflict. This pacifist principle is enshrined in the
country’s Constitution, Article 9 of which states that “the Japanese people
forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use
of force as a means of settling international disputes.”
For decades the Japanese government saw no
reason to revise this basic tenet, and its military was content with its role
as a self-defense force. After all, even without an armed might, Japan had been
unchallenged as Asia’s economic superpower.
But there has been a seismic shift in
Asian geopolitics. China has displaced Japan as the world’s second biggest
economy and has become aggressive in asserting its territorial designs in the
region. Such expansionist moves have put it on a collision course with its
neighbors who are desperately trying to hold off Chinese encroachment.
Japan is feeling the threat. The Senkakus,
a sprinkle of islands in the East China Sea that are under Japanese control,
are also being claimed by the Chinese.
Confronted by the dangerous flashpoint,
Tokyo began to recalibrate its political strategy to make it more attuned to
the realities at hand. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is at the vanguard of a
movement to repeal Article 9 and open the way to a military build-up to counter
the Chinese threat.
Long considered to have militarist
leanings, Mr. Abe has dramatically increased Japan’s defense spending and
forged a closer security partnership with its staunchest ally, the United
States.
The US was more than willing to let its
former foe retool its armed forces. Washington sees a militarily robust Japan
as an effective counterweight to China’s growing threat, as the US goes ahead
with its pivot to Asia.
The rearming of Japan, however, will upset
the power balance in the region. Already, Beijing has taken umbrage at the Abe
agenda, warning that it only ratchets up the tension and heightens the
possibility of armed conflict.
So why is our President applauding Mr.
Abe’s initiative? Because Japan and the Philippines are forming a protective
alliance against Beijing’s moves to take over islands, reefs and shoals it
claims even if these are ours or Japan’s.
After a meeting with the Japanese leader
in Tokyo last week, Benigno Aquino 3rd spoke in glowing terms of the efforts to
rewrite Article 9.
“We believe that nations of goodwill can
benefit only if the Japanese government is empowered to assist others and is
allowed to come to the aid of those in need, especially in the area of
collective self-defense,” President Aquino said.
“We therefore do not view with alarm any
proposal to revisit the Japanese constitution if the Japanese people so desire,
especially if this enhances Japan’s ability to address its international
obligations and brings us closer to … our shared goals of peace, stability and
mutual prosperity,” he continued.
What the President simply means is that
the Philippines likes a military power like Japan to run to when China’s push
becomes a shove.
Mr. Aquino even hinted about having a
security alliance with Japan, similar to the recently inked Enhanced Defense
Cooperation Agreement with the US.
His statements definitely will not endear
us to the Chinese, who are right now busy cementing their claim on islands that
are clearly in our waters.
We do not wish our government to refrain
from developing alliances for our protection against Chinese or any other
encroacher. But we wish President Aquino would be more diplomatically adept and
less orally incompetent in dealing with our China problem.
We do not see a disconnect between the
President’s embracing Mr. Abe’s rearm-Japan advocacy and the Philippine
government’s efforts to settle its maritime row with China through legal,
diplomatic and peaceful means. He just didn’t have to be Japan’s bullhorn. He
could just have made noises about Japan’s and our new-found reliance on each
other against external threats–without being an advocate of Japanese
militarization.
For the fact is the world–including the
Japanese people– must not forget that Japan’s militarist rulers inflicted great
physical and moral damage on Asians — especially the Philippines and the
Filipinos. Yes, Japan has tried to make up for that damage by its reparations
and monetary aid. But it has yet to completely admit that it did something
terribly and irreparably wrong. And Japanese militarists, as well as authors
and publishers of textbooks, are still proud of what they did in World War II.
They do not even want to admit their guilt against the Filipinas their soldiers
used as sex objects.
Perhaps President Aquino is morally on the
side of Japan on this issue of whether Japan was guilty or not because his own
grandfather was alleged to be a leading collaborator with the Japanese military
conquerors of the Philippines.
He should learn to curb these personal
feelings. That way he could become a more astute diplomat and deal more
effectively with ally Japan and bully China. Manila Times
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