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Academics divided over Japan's abandoning pacifism
Indonesian experts are divided over Japan’s move to reinterpret its 69-year-old pacifist foreign policy as it could potentially trigger an arms race in the region, but on the other hand it will make way for the country to play a role in world peace-keeping and increased military cooperation with Indonesia.
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Protesters holding "No war" placards stage a rally against the Japanese government in front of the parliament building in Tokyo, Sept. 18, 2015. (AP/Koji Ueda) (AP/Koji Ueda)
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ndonesian experts are divided over Japan’s move to reinterpret its 69-year-old pacifist foreign policy as it could potentially trigger an arms race in the region, but on the other hand it will make way for the country to play a role in world peace-keeping and increased military cooperation with Indonesia.
"Despite them claiming it is 'safe' it could trigger an arms race in East Asia. North Korea and China will respond by increasing their military systems," University of Indonesia's (UI) international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana told thejakartapost.com recently.
Article 9 of the post-war constitution, drafted under US occupation in 1947, declares that the Japanese people “forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation.”
The amendment of the article will be enacted next month and will allow the country’s military to play roles overseas.
"The change is not radical, with this policy Japan will participate more in world peace-keeping. The positive thing is that Indonesia could increase military collaboration with Japan," chair of UI’s ASEAN Studies Center Edy Prasetyono said during a seminar at the university campus in Depok, West Java, recently.
Meanwhile, Defense Ministry spokesman Jan Pieter Ate concurred, saying that in the future Indonesia could not only increase joint military cooperation with Japan but also purchase weapons.
"Of course we can increase our joint efforts with Japan especially in peace-keeping. We could buy weapons from Japan, as their technology is good, as well as [intensifying] personnel exchanges," Jan Pieter said.
In regard to personnel exchanges, currently just four personnel are sent to study in Japan each year. The government could increase that number in the future, he said.
Hosei University professor of global politics Satoru Mori said that “becoming a normal state means becoming an offensive military power. However, this is not possible while Japan is in alliance with the US."
Mori explained that Japan would not make any military deployment but instead would follow the deployment of its allies, mainly the US.
