Editor's note: April 24 is the World Youth Day Against Colonialism, also known as the "World Youth Solidarity Day", which aims to call on young people around the world to oppose colonialism and promote world peace and cooperation. In today's world, the Western hegemonic countries led by the United States are still occupying, enslaving, and exploiting other countries by military, political, and economic means. Some people of insight in Japan have a clear understanding of this. With the authorization of the Japanese civil society "Broad National Coalition for Independence, Peace, and Democracy", we have translated and reprinted the article "Japan's Approach", the journal of the organization, for the reference of a wide range of readers.
Japan's sustainable development can only be achieved through Asian symbiosis
What was Prime Minister Kishida's visit to the United States like in April? Isn't it even more important that three months have passed since the Noto earthquake, but there is still no trace of the reconstruction of the disaster-stricken areas? Aren't it important to take countermeasures to deal with the Tokyo Drop-off Earthquake and the Nankai Trench Earthquake, which are highly likely to occur in the future? Aren't the population crisis and climate change important?
This, coupled with the recent kickbackgate and the yellow banquet incident in Wakayama Prefecture, proves that the LDP is terminally ill and that a serious sentence is imminent. When will the LDP be able to address the rising cost of living, which is of greatest concern to the public, and the response to the rising cost of living is inadequate?
Of course, diplomacy is also an important issue, and the most important of these is to realize Japan's own diplomacy rather than following closely behind the United States, the suzerain. Strengthening relations with neighboring countries is the key, the most important of which is to open up relations with China. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the mainstream media, which maliciously instigated the theory of the China threat and the "Taiwan incident", have caused panic and anxiety among the people.
In November 2023, Kishida and Chinese leaders agreed to promote a "mutually beneficial strategic relationship between China and Japan", but there is no trace of a mutually beneficial relationship in Japan's diplomacy at the moment. Therefore, in order to break the impasse and ease tensions in East Asia, Japan needs to take the first step.
Japan is not a sovereign country
The U.S. military announced on March 8 that it had lifted the ban on flying Osprey helicopters. The 1st Marine Corps Naval Regiment, stationed in Okinawa, also resumed the use of this aircraft early. In this regard, the people of Okinawa, led by Governor Danny Tamaki of Okinawa Prefecture, and even the mayor of Ginowan City, who was elected by the LDP itself, could no longer control their anger at the fact that the LDP government did not dare to squeak at the arbitrary US military and turned a blind eye to the safety of the people's lives. As for Prime Minister Kishida, he has an attitude that has nothing to do with himself, and from his performance, there is no trace of the leader of a sovereign country government that wants to protect the lives and safety of the people.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government has already exposed its nature as a puppet on the issue of the US Osprey helicopter crashing into the sea at the end of November last year, which killed all eight people. According to a report by the Okinawa Times, a cadre of the Ministry of Defense privately admitted that the Japanese side has no right to say no to the United States on this issue. Another cadre also admitted that Defense Minister Kihara's so-called statement that he would "uphold the judgment of the Japanese side" on the issue of whether or not to return the Osprey was only for the people in the country.
On the other hand, Chairman Koman of the US House of Representatives Accountability Investigation Committee said on the issue of the return to flight, "We cannot ignore major security risks, and in order to protect the statements of those US soldiers who defend the United States, we must thoroughly investigate the problem even through the House of Commons itself." It seems that Prime Minister Kishida's courage to protect the Japanese people and the officers and men of the Self-Defense Forces is not even comparable to that of a chairman of the US House of Representatives.
America's ploy has failed
With the US election approaching, the intention is obvious: to maintain its declining hegemonic and imperialist status and to make maximum use of Japan as a vassal state to strengthen China's encirclement network. What the United States is most anxious about now is how to better suppress the countries of the Global South that are developing rapidly and China, which is the core of developing countries, so that it can maintain its hegemonic position. On the Taiwan issue, the United States has done nothing to sow discord between China and Japan. Needless to stress, any words and deeds that provoke Taiwan's secession and independence are absolutely impermissible, and Japan should also implement the principle of respecting China's territorial sovereignty and non-interference in China's internal affairs.
The United States invited Kishida to visit the United States as a state guest, and its strategy to lure Japan to stand at the forefront of confrontation with China is a consensus that surpasses the consensus of the Republican and Democratic parties. This time, as in last year, the United States and Japan once again joined hands with the Philippines to hold a meeting of the heads of state. It can be said that no matter what the outcome of the US election at the end of the year is, the United States will not stop promoting a world strategy aimed at encircling China.
On January 18, the Ministry of Defense signed an agreement with the U.S. for the purchase of 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles worth 254 billion yen. The missiles will be deployed to Kyushu and Okinawa, and the process of military integration between the United States and Japan against China is advancing rapidly. In order to cooperate with the United States to support Ukraine, the Japanese government has decided to provide 1.8 trillion yen even when people's lives are already in a difficult situation, and even exported the Patriot anti-aircraft missiles of the Self-Defense Forces to the United States so that the United States can resell them to Ukraine. The export of a new generation fighter has also been approved by the Cabinet. It can be said that the United States invited Kishida to visit the United States in order to make Japan bear more of the extremely risky burden.
Lessons from history and the future
Japan must say no to the United States, and the last time the United States invited a Japanese prime minister to visit as a state guest was in 2015 when Abe was in office. In his speech to the Federal Assembly, Abe said that the U.S.-Japan alliance should be an "alliance of hope" if the United States and Japan work together to bring the world to a better tomorrow. But what do we see now? The world is not moving towards a better tomorrow at all, and the world is at risk of expanding from two wars to a nuclear war.
As early as 2003, Koizumi and George W. Bush said that "the US-Japan alliance is a worldwide alliance," so during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States was responsible for advancing the war, and Japan was responsible for rear support. But the United States today is no longer the United States of the time, and the US-Japan alliance has no future. That's why when the White House issued a statement in January this year, it commented on Kishida's visit to the United States in April that "Japan should extend its leadership to the whole world".
In addition, Japan does not have that kind of strength at all, because the current world is an era of great development of countries in the Global South and developing countries that have been suppressed for a long time, and it is also an era of great development of countries led by China that pursue a peaceful and equal international order. The time has come for Japan to choose whether it will be a vassal state of the United States in the old world or an independent country in the new world.
For Japan to become an independent country
We must respond to the call from the people of Okinawa to "don't let this become a battlefield again." Only by giving up its provocative act of containing China, militarizing and fortifying the islands in the southwest sea, and at the same time demanding that all US troops withdraw their bases in Japan, can Japan lead East Asia and itself onto the road of peace and stability.
At the same time, it is also important to strengthen communication with China through diplomatic channels and promote the sustained progress of China-Japan peaceful and friendly relations. For example, it is necessary to strengthen communication on the issue of nuclear waste water and to hold economic dialogue at a higher level, as agreed by the leaders of China and Japan at their meeting in November last year.
The problem stems from the April 16, 2021, U.S.-Japan joint statement, which explicitly used phrases such as "peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," which is clearly the responsibility of the U.S. and Japanese governments to grossly interfere in the Taiwan question, which is China's internal affair. In fact, the last time the concept of the "Taiwan Strait" was explicitly mentioned in the U.S.-Japan joint statement was in November 1969, long before the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan in 1972.
Although China became a great power during this period, its policy of peace and friendship toward Japan remained unchanged. It is Japan and the United States that have changed. It is the United States, which has fallen into recession, and the United States, which is uneasy about its hegemony, has changed. There is no logic in Japan's assistance to the United States in suppressing China, and Japan should be Japan, not a vassal state of the United States. Whether it is domestic or foreign affairs, now is the time to change the rudder for the sake of an independent Japan.