Saturday, September 30, 2006

What Mr. Abe Wants to Do

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gives his first policy speech at the Diet on Friday. Mr. Abe's policy is put into three points: (1) Amending the Constitution, (2) Improving the relations with China and South Korea, (3) Revising the Fundamental Law of Education.

Here's the excerpt:

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Sep. 30, 2006

....As reasons for his decision to review the right to collective self-defense, which the country currently has but cannot exercise under the government's interpretation of the Constitution, Abe pointed out changes in the international situation, such as the fight against terrorism and the world's expectation that Japan will make an international contribution. He said the government would study the matter "to make the Japan-U.S. alliance function more efficiently, so peace can be maintained." As the country's first prime minister born after World War II, Abe stressed his resolve to build a new nation and his hopes of passing at an early date a national referendum bill defining the procedures for constitutional amendment. "The present Constitution was established 60 years ago, when Japan was under occupation," Abe said. *

.....He also said he would improve soured relations with China and South Korea, saying the two countries are important neighbors, calling on all sides making efforts to have forward-looking, frank dialogues.

In addition to seeking a revision to the Fundamental Law of Education, Abe said he would establish a new council in the Cabinet to promote measures to overhaul the nation's education system, such as a requirement for teachers to renew their teaching licenses periodically to ensure standards are maintained, and evaluations of schools by third parties.

....On his policy to deal with the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents, over which Abe's tough attitude drew national acclaim, the new prime minister hinted he would continue to press North Korea.
"Without a resolution of the abduction issue, there will be no normalization of diplomatic ties with North Korea," Abe said. He added he would demand Pyongyang return all the abductees home alive and would head a task force to tackle the abduction issue.

*Bold letters by the author of this blog

(1) Amending the Constitution

To excersize the right to collective self-defense and to maintain peace, Mr. Abe wants to revise the Constitution. As he says (pointed by bold letters), "the present Constitution was established when Japan was occupied by the Allies." While some pundits critisize it as the "MacArthur's Constitution", others disagree to the constitutional amendment. According to the cons, Mr. Abe wants to enable Japan to arm itself and to invade other countries. I think it's a ridiculous conjecture.

You may not know that arming itself is prohibited under the present Constitution. Thus now Japan cannot have the Self-Defence Forces. And it also cannot invade or attack other countries! Mr. Abe, in my conjecture, wants the existence of the Self-Defence Forces not to be interpreted currently by the government but to be admitted by amending the Constitution. And then he wants to put an end to the fruitless discussion on whether it is against the Constitution.

(2) Improving the relations with China and South Korea

He would like to improve the relations with China and South Korea to resolve the issue of the abduction by North Korean agents. He wants to continue to press North Korea to return all the abductees home alive.

(3) Revising the Fundamental Law of Education

To raise up talented people and thus to promote the innovation, he wants to change the nation's education system. This is the most eye-striking in his proposing policy. I don't know what he really wants to do by revising the Fundamental Law of Education and the detail on this issue, however.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a tricky issue in North East Asia. Actually in the Pacific, the JMSDF is already the second most powerful navy after the USN.

I guess what Abe wants is to have the choice to do a pre-emptive strike on North Korea before they start lobbing ICBMs onto the Japanese Home Islands.

Taro said...

Thank you for your sharp comment, Mr.takchek. I'm happy with your response. Please keep an eye on my blog.

Well,I would like you to keep in mind that I'm not an expert on military affairs in Japan. However, because this is one of what I'm interested in most, I would like to raise some questions about your comments:

(1)Actually in the Pacific, is the JMSDF really the second most powerful navy after the USN?

You might think it is a strange question, but I don't.

See Fig.ChapterⅠ
Security Environment Surrounding Japan, sectoion1(PDF:746k);

http://www.jda.go.jp/e/index_.htm

This is the Defence of Japan 2006 White Paper that we can download from JDA. According to the report, in terms of troops, vessels and aircraft, Japan has less military power than do China, ROK and other Asian countries. I guess it is somewhat hard to say that Japan has the second powerful military power. Moreover Japan has no nuclear power. I think it is because Japan has been dropped two atomic bombs.

(2)Does Abe want to have the choice to do a pre-emptive strike on North Korea?

I don't think so. In the first place Abe can't do that. He is not a dictator and so he must convene the Diet to make the decision to do that. The Diet must reject such a dangerous decision. If Abe attacked North Korea, Japan would be exposed to very great danger and have no merit. In fact many Japanese politicians disagree to the aggresive pressure on North Korea in order to get back Japanese abductees. They suggest that Abe should place great emphasis on the 6 parties talks, that is, he should first talk to North Korea agents. They take precautions against Abe's hawkish foreign policy for East-Asia region. And Abe is sure to bear it in mind.

Anonymous said...

In terms of naval power, quality counts more than quantity. China's and North Korean navies still have quite a bit of catch up to do, especially in terms of power projection beyond their coastal shorelines.

Taro said...

Thank you for your quick response, Mr.takchek.

Well, because I'm not a specialist on military affairs,as you know,I don't know about the quality of the JMSDF in detail. I guess it has relatively higher quality of military power than China's and North Korean.

Certainly JMSDF might have superior military power but in fact has no choice and no right to take the military action by itself. This is so-called a civilian control, which is heavily effective on JMSDF.

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