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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has undoubtedly been relishing the opportunity to get behind closed doors with U.S. President Barack Obama for quite some time now as the Japanese leader has been busying himself with a multitude of defense related ideologies.
Thanks to his cherry picked Cabinet's policy of automatically approving his every whim and his coalition party's dominance in parliament, the idologies have and will continue to ensure they all become new jurisprudence.
This is Japan's so-called new democracy, according to some experts on the matter. In spite of public protests about the prime minister's autocratic recasting of Japan's military against the pacifist nation's wishes and in contravention of the country's Supreme Law, Abe, it would seem, at least for the time being is on a roll although there are a few hiccups expected along the way during his tour in the United States related to his revisionist perspectives on Japan's atrocities caused during World War II, semantic palliating of the heinous comfort women issue, and a general whitewashing or flat out denial of incontrovertible wartime facts, such as the horrendous Nanjing Massacre from factions within his cabinet or other close influential coteries.
But the Japanese leader is becoming something of a public relations whizz and will semantically dodge any flak related to the aforementioned by pushing forward with his newly found "deep remorse" mantra before returning to Japan with his new, unencumbered joint-U.S. military protocols and directives ready to strategically implement, while putting the finishing touches on a speech that the whole world is hoping, quite possibly in vain, that will diffuse tensions in the East Asian region on the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.
"Obviously, the Japan-U.S. defense guidelines needed revamping as they haven't been renewed in 18 years, and as expected the role of Japan's Self-Defense Forces has been dramatically expanded so as to be able to assist its allies globally, particularly the United States," pacific affairs research analyst Laurent Sinclair told Xinhua.
"The new Japan-U.S. partnership was described by Obama as " indestructible" which is quite a shift in narrative from former statements and one that now clearly connotes power, authority, control and aggression, sentiments which while running completely contrary to the two countries' joint statement issued after the leaders' summit, which talked of the positive issues of broadening the alliance, sharing aspirations and focusing on the future, do in fact hold true to the truculent undercurrent of the alliance, and the U.S.'s militaristic rebalance into the Asia-Pacific region, " Sinclair said.
Sinclair reiterated the fact that with Japan now as its bone fide de facto military, and one which shortly will not have to try and dodge its constitutional restraints once new military legislation is passed, and with access to Japanese facilities which has always been the case since the end of WWII despite the hardships this has caused local Japanese such as those in Okinawa who have for decades hosted the majority of the U.S. bases in Japan and all the problems that come with this, the rebalance can start in earnest.
"And all this has been catalyzed by Abe taking politics far enough to the right to garner the support from Japan's powerful nationalistic and rightwing lobbies and organizations like Nippon Kaigi, and through a perpetual media rhetoric that now bows to the Abe administration and faces disciplinary measures if it deviates from the government's official view, and has hoodwinked the public into believing there is some kind of 'perceive threat' in the region," Sinclair, also an expert on defense matters and policy in the region, said.
The joint statement recently released hailed the importance of both the security and prosperity of Japan and the United States in the 21st century and how these were inextricably linked and could not be defined by national borders. The statement continued with such mutual back patting, in stating that both current and future commitments to the international order would reflect that reality.
Both governments said the new guidelines will help their countries to work more closely on issues including maritime security, and to partner with other countries "that share the same aspirations, in the region and beyond."
"The wording here is interesting and it's as much about what' s being said, as what's not being said yet clearly inferred," said political analyst Teruhisa Muramatsu.
"There are ongoing territorial conflicts in this region between a number of countries and have been for some time and while diplomacy may have taken a hit over these and other issues, the countries involved are big enough to deal with these problems without the need for Big Brother to get involved," he said.
"In fact, when we hear that the U.S. plans to send the newest and most capable of its weapons systems to the Asia-Pacific region as part of its rebalance here and, according to its official statements, when movements are completed, 60 percent of the U.S. fleet will be in the Pacific-Indian Ocean area, a boosted presence will be in Australia and military ties enhanced with the Philippines, we'd be forgiven for thinking that some huge contingency was about to occur."
"Despite disagreements between countries in this region, a serious contingency has never looked like happening, but this narrative from both Tokyo and Washington has created the illusion of an enemy in our midst and this narrative creates fear, which allows the government (here) to manipulatively steamroll over democratic and constitutional ideals," Muramatsu explained.
He quoted the joint statement as saying: "State actions that undermine respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity by attempting to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion pose challenges to the international order," said he, adding that fabricating a perceived threat was in and of itself an affront to international order and deciding to send more forces to work with Japan and equipping them with next-generation hardware was the biggest example of undermining another region's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Most of all, Muramatsu said the ideology behind this U.S.'s rebalance to the region at the behest of its kowtower Japan, was the perfect example of an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo, and if the U.S.' track record of intervening in other' s affairs is anything to go by, the region could become far less stable, as anxieties are unnecessarily provoked. Enditem
