Japan moving toward more active regional, international role.

• Author: Williams, Robert H.
• Position: Antiterrorist measures

Tokyo--The recent bilateral agreement to realign U.S. forces in Japan has commanded considerable attention, especially the decision to station for the first time a nuclear carrier at a base near Tokyo. But of greater import is a less publicized drive by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to make the Japanese military a much more potent force in a region that is being pressured by an expansionist China and periodically threatened by North Korea.

A resurgent Japan would at first blush sharply alter the balance of power in the Far East, a development that would be welcomed by the United States.

Koizumi, who recently won reelection, suggested in a speech at an air self-defense base near Tokyo that Japan's constitution, which was written by the U.S. military in 1947, should be amended to eliminate a provision that outlaws war. Instead, the clause should be rewritten to expand the international role of the self-defense force, he said.

The change would require an endorsement by Japan's legislature--the national Diet--and subsequently by a majority vote of the Japanese people.

"I will do my best to make the appropriate changes so that the self-defense force's mission can be accomplished fully," he said.

Meanwhile, Hiromi Yoshida, a member of Japan's House of Councilors--the upper chamber in that nation's legislature--told National Defense that "ensuring the stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region surrounding Japan is essential for the security and prosperity of Japan, itself."

On the plus side, Yoshida suggested that regional cooperation as witnessed by "economic partnerships and cooperation on transnational issues" would eventually lead to the development of an "East Asian community in the future.

"The deepening of this multi-tiered cooperation has positive implications for regional stability and prosperity, considering the diversity of the region in political values, stages of economic development, cultures and religions."

But he cautioned that "there remain elements of instability that pose obstacles to ensuring the peace and stability of the region, including the situation on the Korean peninsula and in the Taiwan Strait--issues with a direct bearing on Japan's security--and so-called transnational issues in Southeast Asia. such as terrorist attacks, sea piracy, organized crime and infectious disease." Yoshida also pointed to natural disasters in the region including the tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the mega quake in Pakistan.

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