Increased Chinese Threats Now Causing Japan to Raise Defense Budget, Push for Change to Pacifist Mil - Polidicks

[QUOTE][IMG]http://rt.com/files/news/1f/b1/50/00/china_s-first-aircraft-carrier.si.jpg[/IMG] China's first aircraft carrier is seen docked at Dalian Port, in Dalian, Liaoning province (Reuters / Stringer) Tokyo is increasingly under threat from an emboldened China and an unpredictable North Korea, a Japanese defense paper says. Accusing China of “coercive” tactics, Japan is pushing to amend its pacifist constitution and pave the way for a standing army. Tokyo released its first regional defense report since a territorial dispute over a set of islands in the East China Sea erupted last year. The paper notes that tensions have continued to build and [I]“are becoming increasingly tangible, acute and serious."[/I] [I]"China has attempted to change the status quo by force based on its own assertion, which is incompatible with the existing order of international law,"[/I] the report said, underlining comments made by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday. It added that China should stick to [I]“international norms.”[/I] Over the last couple of months China and Japan have been trading diplomatic blows over so-called territorial violations surrounding a group of islands to which both countries lay claim. Beijing calls them the Diaoyus, while to the Japanese they are known as the Senkakus. Japan argues the islets are legally and historically located on Japanese territory, however, Beijing believes they were [I]“stolen” from China at the end of the Sino-Japanese war in 1895. Taiwan also lays claim the small group of islands. The area around the islets is believed to hold significant fuel deposits. [I]“China's activities include its intrusion into Japan's territorial waters, its violation of Japan's territorial airspace and even dangerous actions that could cause a contingency,'' wrote the report. Back in February the Japanese government claimed a Chinese naval ship had locked fire control on to a Japanese destroyer in the area, escalating tensions between the two countries. Beijing denied the allegations, but the defense paper dismissed the Chinese assertions as [I]“inconsistent with the facts.” Tokyo has also scrambled fighter jets a number of times in response to what it claims were airspace violations by China. Massive protests swept China last August with thousands demonstrating against[I]“Japanese imperialism.” Activists targeted Japanese companies and cars, vandalizing local businesses. [/I][/I][/I][/I]In response to the island dispute and the growing threat from the Korean Peninsula, Tokyo has raised its defense budget for the first time in 11 years. Moreover, PM Abe is trying to revise the Japanese constitution to allow for collective military action. [/QUOTE] [URL]http://rt.com/news/japan-china-threat-defense-813/[/URL]

[QUOTE]A change to the Japanese pacifist constitution could potentially upset relations with Tokyo’s neighbors in the region and further escalate tensions.[/QUOTE] With North Korea and The Peoples Republic of China neighbouring you its hard to take too many precautions. Hopefully this doesn't inspire any Imperialistic ambitions. Hopefully it inspires mecha's.

That original thread title was pretty disingenuous. They're not 'bringing back the military', the new Prime Minister (whose party only controls the lower house of government) wants to amend the constitution so that the Self-Defense Forces can be used outside of purely defensive (or peacekeeping) engagements. The SDF is already all the things that a military would be, it's just how the constitution restricts actions it can take that's at hand. Even so, Japanese government is almost by nature slow and gridlocked (to an even greater extent than the US), and passing any kind of amendment, especially one of such profile just isn't likely.

Welp it'd be about time really. AFAIK japan's military status was forced upon them, so its really kind of dumb they are essentially still being punished for being the losing side of a war that happened over 60 years ago. Doesnt even fucking Germany still deploy on offensive operations if they so please??

Well, if they're gonna amend their constitution, they should take out that part about censoring naughty bits in their fucking PORNO while they're at it. Come on, guys.

[QUOTE=jaegerisacunt;41380373]Welp it'd be about time really. AFAIK japan's military status was forced upon them, so its really kind of dumb they are essentially still being punished for being the losing side of a war that happened over 60 years ago. Doesnt even fucking Germany still deploy on offensive operations if they so please??[/QUOTE] Well the point of the specific article (Article 9) is to renounce the use of offensive military force as a means of solving disputes. However, this was interpreted by the government to mean that Japan cannot hold weapons such as bomber fleets, ICBMs, among other blatantly destructive things, but does not prohibit national defense or emergency operations. Though, support for this even by the population is somewhat dubious. A poll conducted by the newspaper Nikkei a couple months ago found that while support for some change to the constitution was at 56%, with regards to article 9 specifically, only 38% supported changing that. Not only this, but the same prime minister who is advocating this is simultaneously pushing for a change to how the constitution is amended, to change it from two-thirds approval to a simple majority. All in all it's kind of sleazy and the people don't actually support the specific changes Abe wants to make.

The fact that the Japanese are still bound to an aging treaty that prevents them from building their military is a bit... silly, in my opinion. Are the Germans and Italians bound to anything like it, by any chance?

[QUOTE=ewitwins;41381097]The fact that the Japanese are still bound to an aging treaty that prevents them from building their military is a bit... silly, in my opinion. Are the Germans and Italians bound to anything like it, by any chance?[/QUOTE] As far as I know the Germans aren't bound to self defense only as the allies encouraged their re-militarization following increased tensions after the Korean war, as East Germany was doing the same.

[QUOTE=ewitwins;41381097]The fact that the Japanese are still bound to an aging treaty that prevents them from building their military is a bit... silly, in my opinion. [/QUOTE] As long as they got the US backing up their ass, they're saving major $$$ on defence

banzai !

[QUOTE=fishyfish777;41385443]As long as they got the US backing up their ass, they're saving major $$$ on defence[/QUOTE] If you ask me, Japan is far better off with the current arrangement with the US, as if you attack Japan, you are for all purposes also attacking the USA, Japan gets to save on military costs, and the USA gets a base of operations in asia