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The only item that has captured the attention of a
big number Filipinos about Japan of late is the Japanese-Philippine
Economic Partnership Agreement. We have studied the treaty and have
urged the Senate to ratify it.
Filipinos are also concerned
about the entry into Japan of our nurses and caregivers (which is
touched on by JPEPA). We wish Japan would treat these Filipino
professionals more beneficently than it has so far.
Imminent passage of a law
Now there is a matter that has
not received the attention it deserves here and in other Asian
countries—and even among the Japanese people themselves.
This is the apparently imminent
passage by the Japanese parliament (the Diet) of a basic law on the
active use of space for defense—which means, in the final
analysis, the military use of space.
This law is contrary to policy
Japan has followed for decades restricting the development and use
of space to nonmilitary purposes.
That policy which is soon to be
reversed is contained in a 1969 resolution of the Diet proscribing
Japan from, and giving Japan a mission to oppose, the use of space
for anything but peaceful purposes. The 1969 resolution forbids
Japan from launching and using spy satellites, but it is a fact that
“information gathering satellites” of the Special Defense Forces
(SDF) have been roaming the heavens along with those of the USA,
Russia and China.
What makes it certain that the
law will be passed before long is that the bill has the support of
the members not only of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its
coalition partner, the New Komeito party, but also of the
country’s main opposition group, the Democratic Party of Japan.
With such backing there is no
chance the few Diet members opposing the bill will succeed.
The Japanese public seems not to
care whether the bill is passed or not. For sure, there has been
little debate and publicity about the bill. Perhaps there will be a
public outcry against it if the still numerous pacifist segment of
the Japanese population knew more about the bill, if they were told
that the bill’s statement of the goals of space development
includes Japan’s “national security.”
The committee passed the bill in
less than two hours.
There has been no debate about it
because it is overwhelmingly supported by all the major parties. It
will surely sail smoothly in the plenary sessions of both the
Diet’s houses. (The power structure in Japan’s two-chambered
legislature these days is like what we have here: The Diet’s lower
house, the House of Representatives, is controlled by the LDP-New
Komeito coalition which governs the country. The upper house, the
House of Councilors, is in the hands of the principal opposition,
the Democratic Party of Japan.)
The business and industrial
community is in favor of the bill. Why not? Military use of space
will launch great business ventures and enliven the stock market.
Many Japanese probably find
nothing much to say against the idea of their country being as
active militarily in space as the United States, Russia and China.
After all the present spy satellites of the SDF are doing the
necessary work of monitoring the nuclear shenanigans of North
Korea—which has been issuing military threats against Japan every
now and then when disputes take a bad polemical turn.
Only the Communist Party of Japan
voted against the bill in the House committee session.
Diminishing the comfort zone
created by Japan
But moderate forces have asked
sobering questions.
The Asahi Shimbun says: “But
the military use of space is a huge issue; it brings into sharp
focus the question of what kind of country Japan will become . . .
if Japan embarks upon the military use of space, will not tensions
with neighboring countries increase? How will the huge development
and deployment costs be funded? Isn’t there danger that space
development will be shrouded from view as ‘classified
intelligence’?”
One of the consoling facts about
our part of the globe is what we call the “comfort zone created by
Japan’s pacifist people.” This springs from the reality that
Japan—the second greatest economy of the world, the only country
that right now (despite its share of economic problems) could become
the second superpower after the United States—is still officially
governed by a “peace constitution” and has a majority of people
who still consider themselves pro-peace, anti-war and
anti-militaristic.
If this basic law on the use of
space is enacted, Japan’s being the provider of that comfort zone
will be diminished by its increased militarization. When that
happens, we Filipinos and our fellow East Asians will end up morally
and psychically poorer. And so will the rest of the world.
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