Tuesday, April 28, 2015

U.S., Japan unveil new defense guidelines

U.S. and Japan on Monday announced new guidelines for bilateral defense cooperation, allowing Japan's self defense forces to take on more ambitious global role that the Shinzo Abe administration has been seeking.

Under the new guidelines, revised for the first time since 1997, Japan will have the rights to exercise collective self-defense, therefore being able to defend other countries that may come under attack, said the U.S. Defense Department in a news release. It also allows for increased regional and global cooperation in the U. S.-Japanese alliance.

A joint statement of the New Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation was released after the U.S. and Japanese foreign and defense ministers met in New York City Monday morning.

"U.S. welcomes and supports the ongoing efforts to develop the legislation, which is to reflect Japan's policy of 'Proactive Contributions to Peace' and its July 2014 cabinet decision," the statement said.

The Abe administration, through reinterpreting the constitution in July last year, gave green light to the Self-Defense Forces ( SDF) to exercise the collective defense, which allows for Japan's involvement in the defense of its allies. Previously, Japan's war- renouncing constitution allows the SDF to use force only if Japan itself was directly threatened. The move evoked harsh criticism both from home and abroad.

Fang Yan, a Chinese political commentator in New York, told Xinhua that the new defense guidelines will allow Japan to expand its military force and to get involved in global issues.

"It not only aims to contain the influence of China but also seek to defend hegemony of U.S.-Japanese alliance in East Asia," he said. "It will also help U.S. in its military existence across the world."

Lichuang Zhu, bureau chief of Asia-American Times in New York, said that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the anti-Japanese War, but the United States forgets the pains that Japanese military had inflicted on America, and forgets that so many American servicemen were abused and ten of millions of Asian civilians were killed.

"It's a pity that America forgets the history and is only seeking the current interests by supporting Japan to reinterpret the constitution," he told Xinhua.

The new guidelines said that U.S. 2015 National Security Strategy articulates that as the United States is actively implementing its rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region, it is central for the U.S. to be committed to the defense of Japan.

The changes would allow greater cooperation in enhancing Ballistic Missile Defense capacities, enhanced collaboration on space security, and continued progress in cooperation on cyberspace issues, said the guidelines.

The revisions to the guidelines came on the second day of Japanese Prime Minister Abe's week-long visit to the United States, during which Abe is expected to meet U.S. President Barack Obama, and deliver a speech at the joint session of the U.S. Congress.

The prime minister's trip to the United States comes amid growing demand for him to apologize for Japan's past war crimes.

On Monday, dozens of protesters shouted "Abe must apologize!" as Abe delivered a speech at the Harvard University.

In a recent editorial, the New York Times also advised that Japan cannot "credibly fill that broader role" of a 21st-century leader, as envisioned by Abe, "if it seeks to repudiate criticism of its past."

The newspaper also linked the success of Abe's visit partly to his efforts to "confront Japan's wartime history, including its decision to wage war, its brutal occupation of China and Korea, its atrocities and its enslavement of thousands of women forced to work as sex slaves or comfort women in wartime brothels."

  (Xinhua)
 cntv.cn
27/4/15
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2 comments:

  1. Obama to Host Japan's Abe at White House...

    President Barack Obama welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House on Tuesday for an official state visit expected to focus on expanding bilateral defense and economic ties.

    Ahead of the visit, Abe and other top Japanese officials met their U.S. counterparts in New York on Monday and agreed to tighten their defense alliance, a move widely seen as a response to China's growing power.

    The revised guidelines help Japan play a larger part in international conflicts, allowing Tokyo to come to the defense of a third country and strengthening its role in missile defense, mine sweeping, and ship inspections.

    It is the first time in 18 years the U.S. and Japan have revised their defense guidelines. The move follows Japan's decision last year to reinterpret its pacifist constitution to allow for collective self-defense.....voanews.com
    28/4/15

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nearly half of Japanese oppose new joint defense guidelines with U.S.: poll...

    Nearly half of people surveyed were opposed to the revised Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines announced earlier this week to give Japanese troops an expanded role beyond the country’s vicinity, a Kyodo News poll found Thursday.

    While 47.9 percent said they were against the guidelines, 35.5 percent supported it, according to the telephone survey conducted on Wednesday and Thursday.

    The approval rating for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stood at 52.7 percent, down 2.7 percentage points from the previous poll in March.

    On Abe’s bid to enact legislation for Japan to play a greater security role based on the revised guidelines, 48.4 percent were opposed to his doing so during the ongoing Diet session through June, almost unchanged from the preceding survey.

    Abe is expected to issue a statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in August, and 50.4 percent of respondents said he should use keywords such as “remorse” and “apology” for people in other Asian countries that suffered under Japan’s “colonial rule and aggression.”.....Kyodo

    ReplyDelete

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