Japan's new Defense Outline bares military teeth, Comments

In its new Defense Outline released on December 10, the Japanese government set the trend of the country's security guarantee and defense construction in the coming decade. Media from Britain, Germany and Russia gave their comments respectively on the following day.

A comment by German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung pointed out that Japan's constitutional pacifism came to an end ever since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi tied the country's defense policy closer with America's Pacific policy. The new Defense Outline, the first thorough review in a decade, for the first time singled out China and DPRK as threats, which will significantly worsen diplomatic conflicts among countries along the Pacific. The Japanese highlight of "lurking threats from Communist countries" is meant to justify the biggest Japan-US cooperation project--the missile defense system.

Unlike Germany, the comment said, Japan has never come clean about its history of militarism. The White House probably has forgotten Japan's past, since through sending troops to Iraq, Koizumi provided political covering for Bush. But in Asia, Japan's past will never be forgotten. Before becoming a normal country it wishes, Japan has to win trust from its former war-field rivalries, while by setting up imaginary enemies it can only get the opposite result.

The key of Japan's new Defense Outline, Russia News commented, is to build anti-missile defense system and enable the Self Defense Forces to participate more widely in international peace-keeping operations, which exposed Japan's military ambitions.

Experts believe that the adoption of the new Defense Outline will bring serious problems to Japan's relations with China and DPRK, the comment said. Since the two countries are viewed as threats to Japanese security, large-scale redeployment of Japanese troops can be predicted.

Japan revised its defense policy according to its alleged changes in global security situation, in the hope to add weight to itself in global military cooperation, A BBC comment observed. Although reaffirming the commitment to never threatening other countries, the new Defense Outline at the same time made important revisions to Japan's defense policy.

According to the new policy, Japan eased its ban on arms export, which enables it to work together with the United States to develop missile defense system, the comment pointed out.

By People's Daily Online