The Economist Japan's pacifist constitution

The Economist

Japan's pacifist constitution

Keeping the peace

FOR a document cobbled together during a few hectic days in 1946, in bombed-out Tokyo, Japan’s constitution has weathered the test of time. Written during the American-led occupation, while thousands of starving, war-displaced citizens wandered the capital, the constitution has since remained untouched. That, for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is a problem.

Conservatives have long resented the May 1947 constitution, which enshrines Western-style rights and officially ended the god-like status of the emperor, reducing him to a mere “symbol of the state”. In particular, Article 9, in which Japanese people “forever” renounce war as a “sovereign right” and also renounce “the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes” rankles Mr Abe’s supporters. Debates about the constitution have grown more heated with China’s rise. In a critical review this year, Japan’s government said China’s military budget has grown thirtyfold over the last decade; by contrast Japan’s military spending has been more or less flat for 20 years. China’s publicly-announced annual spending is twice that of Japan, says its defence ministry.

Mr Abe’s government argues that Japan should be permitted to engage in “collective defence,” so that it can fight alongside a military ally—America—if that ally comes under attack. Until now, legal experts have interpreted the constitution as allowing Japan’s military to open fire only if directly fired upon. The government’s “reinterpretation” is the most profound challenge to the pacifist constitution since 1947.

Mr Abe faces, however, one serious roadblock: the constitution’s popularity. Many ordinary Japanese support Article 9, which they credit with keeping the country out of war for 68 years. An opinion poll last month in the liberal-left Asahi newspaper found 63 percent of respondents oppose Mr Abe’s plans for Article 9. Even readers of the conservative Nikkei have serious doubts.

Opposition has taken some novel forms. One group of campaigners has launched a sex strike. Women Who Don’t Have Sex With Men Who Love War has vowed to withhold the marital prerogative from any husband backing constitutional revision. A potentially greater challenge has emerged from the Norwegian Nobel committee, which last month shortlisted “Japanese people who conserve Article 9” for its peace prize.

The quest for Nobel recognition was launched last year by a Japanese mother-of-two, Naomi Takasu. Michio Hamaji, a former Middle-East oil executive, lent his support, drawing on his business and political connections. A supporter of Mr Abe in “general terms,” Mr Hamaji is nevertheless alarmed by the threat of war with China. He has been joined by Hiroyuki Konishi, a Diet lawmaker who says the government’s attempt to reinterpret the constitution’s legal basis is effectively a “coup d’état”.

The Oslo-based committee has a history of eccentric choices. And among this year’s confirmed candidates are Edward Snowden and Vladimir Putin. But Mr Konishi believes the Article 9 bid, quixotic as it sounds, has a chance of success. “Its simplicity and elegance is the reason why it has survived for so long,” he says. “I believe the world should recognise that.” He and Mr Hamaji hope to enlist the support of 50 lawmakers ahead of the Nobel announcement in November. If their bid were to succeed, one of the more interesting questions would be who goes to Norway to receive the award on behalf of “the Japanese people”—Mr Abe?

NYT

China Tensions Grow After Vietnamese Ship Sinks in Clash

BEIJING — Hair-trigger tensions in the South China Sea escalated Tuesday as China and Vietnam traded accusations over the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel in the vicinity of a Chinese oil rig parked in disputed waters off Vietnam’s coast.

The incident was almost certain to aggravate the already charged diplomatic and economic tensions between China and Vietnam, whose relations have plummeted to the worst in decades following anti-Chinese riots two weeks ago that killed at least four people.

In the latest incident, a Chinese vessel rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat about 17 nautical miles southwest of the rig on Monday afternoon, the state-run Vietnamese television network, VTV1, reported. All 10 crew members were rescued, the network said.

In High Seas, China Moves UnilaterallyMAY 9, 2014

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Vietnam Squares Off With China in Disputed SeasMAY 7, 2014

But Beijing labeled Vietnam as the aggressor, with the Chinese state-run news agency, Xinhua, saying the Vietnamese fishing boat “capsized when it was interfering with and ramming” a Chinese fishing vessel from Hainan, a province of China. Then China accused Vietnam of sabotage and interfering with the operations of the oil rig, which has become a flash point of tensions ever since Vietnam learned that the Chinese had set up the rig in waters contested by both nations.

Photo

A Chinese coast guard vessel, right, saiied near China's oil drilling rig in disputed waters earlier this month in the South China Sea. Credit Hoang Dinh Nam/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

At sea, armadas of ships from both countries are jousting with each other as the Chinese try to protect the $1 billion oil rig operated by the energy giant Cnooc and the Vietnamese attempt to disrupt its operations.

Chinese and Vietnamese boats have rammed each other in the area around the oil rig, and the Chinese have acknowledged that they used water cannons to keep the Vietnamese away from the rig, which stands as tall as a 40-story building.

The rig arrived in the waters off the Paracel Islands, which are claimed by both China and Vietnam, on May 1, a unilateral move that showed China was willing to create “facts” establishing its control of the waters of the South China Sea without consulting with other claimants.

“Suddenly Chinese fishing boat #11209 crashed into Vietnamese fishing boat DNa 90152 with 10 fishermen on board,” the VTV1 television report said. A deputy colonel in the Vietnamese Coast Guard, Ngo Ngoc Thu, said the Chinese ship had a steel hull.

An armada of as many as 80 boats, including some from the Chinese Coast Guard, now patrol around the rig, creating a wide perimeter established by the Chinese, according to Vietnamese accounts.

Warships from both countries, including five Chinese frigates, have been observed from outside the perimeter, American officials say.

Chinese social media sites lit up Tuesday with nationalistic postings inspired by the placement of the oil rig and Monday’s clash at sea. Users of ifeng.com, the website of Phoenix Television, a Hong Kong-based satellite network, sent congratulations to the Chinese ship for its action in sinking the Vietnamese vessel.

“Now this is showing some backbone,” said one anonymous user. “Good going, finally seeing some news of concrete action,” said another.

And the depth of anti-Chinese sentiment in Vietnam was on stark display last Friday when a 67-year-old Vietnamese woman set herself on fire and died in Ho Chi Minh City, an echo of the self-immolations by Buddhist monks in South Vietnam in the early 1960s during the Vietnam War.

In the latest incident, the woman burned herself at dawn in the center of the city, and she left behind papers imploring the Vietnamese government to act more aggressively against the Chinese oil rig, city officials said.

Directory: tlairson -> china
china -> The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol 11, Issue 21, No. 3, May 27, 2013. Much Ado over Small Islands: The Sino-Japanese Confrontation over Senkaku/Diaoyu
china -> Nyt amid Tension, China Blocks Crucial Exports to Japan By keith bradsher published: September 22, 2010
china -> China Alters Its Strategy in Diplomatic Crisis With Japan By jane perlez
tlairson -> Chapter IX power, Wealth and Interdependence in an Era of Advanced Globalization
tlairson -> Nyt india's Future Rests With the Markets By manu joseph published: March 27, 2013
tlairson -> Developmental State
china -> The Economist Singapore The Singapore exception To continue to flourish in its second half-century, South-East Asia’s miracle city-state will need to change its ways, argues Simon Long
tlairson -> History of the Microprocessor and the Personal Computer, Part 2
china -> The Economist The Pacific Age Under American leadership the Pacific has become the engine room of world trade. But the balance of power is shifting, writes Henry Tricks

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