Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) wants to change the current pacifist constitution; this is a thing both in and against expectations.

This can be expected because under the push of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi the revision will be on Japan's political agenda sooner or later. This can be seen in the formation of the new cabinet after Koizumi won the general election in September. Some people who are regarded classic hawks assumed important posts, and they, even before their official taking of office, demanded overtly to carry through the visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, where top war criminals are worshiped, and declared their intention to "pave the way" for Japan to become an "ordinary country".

What falls outside expectation is the pace of LDP's revision endeavor. It used no more than a month from forming the cabinet in October 31 to putting forward a new constitution draft at an assembly held November 22 to mark the 50th anniversary of the party's foundation.

Worrying enough, LDP wants not only to remove article 9 of the existing pacifist constitution, which provides the renunciation of the maintenance of troops and war as a sovereign right of the nation, but is trying to change the title of the chapter 2 from current "renunciation of war" to "security guarantee". What is more disturbing is that the LDP's draft, in order to simplify the revision procedure, requires only majorities in both houses of parliament to endorse a change instead of the current two-thirds.

The very soul of the current pacifist constitution lies in its article 9, which states that "the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes", and, to that end, "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". LDP's draft, although keeping the principle of denouncing war as a means of settling international disputes, crossed out the substantial promise of not maintaining forces and other war potential, thus fundamentally depriving the essence of this article and leaving the constitution mere a scrap of paper.

This is not the first time that LDP attempts at constitutional revision, and its efforts in this regard never ceased since the founding of the party on November 22, 1955. It was only that its endeavor failed once and again given the political environment at home and abroad at that time. Therefore LDP was forced to attack from the flank and squeeze in some of its own stuff under the cloak of constitution interpretation. The National Police Reserve was upgraded into Self Defense Forces in the name of "self defense"; holding high the banner of "participating in UN peace-keeping missions", the SDF set foot on foreign lands against the national principle of "defense only"; now, under the mechanism of the US-Japan Security Alliance, mission of the SDF is being extended from logistical support to combat in collation with US troops. The electoral victory in September has won LDP again, after 15 years, the two-thirds majority at the lower house, and the party reached its peak in fame and influence in 50 years. Under such a context the constitutional revision campaign stepped from background to foreground, going from talks to actions.

Still, the party remains unconfident. Koizumi, while claiming the revision should be carried out as soon as possible, declared repeatedly that "the LDP has always gained prosperity admits peace since its taking of power". This is no doubt a remark to sooth the uneasiness and fear felt by the Japanese public. Even So, the general public responded quickly. The Japan Lawyers Association for Freedom, who has 1,600 lawyer members, issued a statement on November 24 to express its condemnation and opposition, saying the revision violates the basic principle of the pacifist constitution. Meanwhile, the Association of Pacifist Constitution Article 9, composed of people from all walks of life, organized all kinds of speeches and discussions throughout the country, repeatedly opposing any attempt to dismember or emasculate the pacifist constitution.

60 years after the end of the war, the peaceful development of Japan is indeed hard-won, on which the Japanese people has both bitter historical lessons and successful experience to be proud of. The Japanese people, while firmly believing in their well-settled course of peaceful development, must keep vigilant against a handful of ill-intended politicians.

This article by Fan Yongming, director of the Research Center of Japanese Studies, Fudan University, is carried on the first page of People's Daily Overseas Edition, November 24, and is translated by People's Daily Online.