Moves to bolster defense, intelligence 'repeat prewar mistakes', critics warn

Japan's recent efforts to strengthen its security and defense capabilities, including plans to expand its intelligence framework and revise key security policies, have sparked concerns at home and abroad over the country's remilitarization.

Critics have urged Japan to uphold the principles of its pacifist constitution and warned against repeating its prewar mistakes.

Within Japan, critics argue that legislation passed last week to establish a national intelligence council and a national intelligence bureau could significantly expand government surveillance powers and return the country to the dangerous path it once followed.

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Before and during World War II, Japan's Special Higher Police, known as Tokko, and military police organizations actively suppressed anti-government movements and civil society groups.

The newly passed legislation is aimed at building a national system to centralize intelligence information, the first of its kind since World War II.

With the national intelligence council at its core and the national intelligence bureau serving as its implementing body, the system will coordinate intelligence activities.

Following the law's passage, the Ryukyu Shimpo warned in an editorial that the national intelligence council and related measures, including proposed anti-espionage legislation, could fundamentally alter Japan's political and institutional character and echo the country's prewar system.

The editorial argued that as intelligence and national security bodies continue to expand, government agencies could gain broader powers, potentially threatening citizens' privacy and freedom of expression.

Calling for oversight

The editorial called for stronger oversight of government authority and democratic checks and balances on national intelligence institutions.

At a protest in Tokyo on May 29, two days after the legislation was approved, demonstrators voiced concerns over what they described as Japan's accelerating military buildup.

A protester named Matsuzawa said he strongly felt that the country was moving toward greater militarization.

He said that moves by the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to revise Article 9 of the constitution and promote anti-espionage legislation evoke memories of prewar Japan.

"My children are still in elementary school," he said. "If things continue in this direction, I don't believe we will be able to leave them a peaceful Japan."

According to the Shimbun Akahata newspaper, Gyo Ishii, a senior staff writer for Kyodo News, also expressed concerns during deliberations on the legislation.

He noted that prewar Japan steadily strengthened its intelligence and secrecy systems through a series of laws and argued that the current government's efforts to establish a national intelligence council and strengthen anti-espionage legislation bear similarities to that process.

Ishii said the Takaichi administration is seeking to transform Japan into a country capable of waging war by expanding its intelligence apparatus.

He warned that the issue concerns not only the pacifist principles enshrined in Article 9 of the constitution but also the freedoms of speech and the press guaranteed under Article 21.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea recently published a series of articles slamming the rising militarism in Japan.

The attempts by the Japanese government to revise the pacifist constitution, legitimize the "Self-Defence Forces", and even restore the military ranks used by the former imperial Japanese army indicate the current government's attempt to remake Japan into a "war state", the DPRK's state newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary piece on May 23.

The article said the attempts are an extension of Japan's move toward militarization, including increased military spending, revision of three security-related documents, and discussions of abandoning the three nonnuclear principles.

The article pointed out that Japan, an ally of the United States in Northeast Asia with deep military ties to NATO, fired offensive missiles during a joint military practice in early May for the first time since World War II.

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These developments offer no assurance that the island nation will refrain from again attacking neighboring countries despite its loud calls for peace, the article added.

While history gave Japan a chance at rebirth after its defeat in World War II, the Japanese ruling party has instead used the generosity of the international community to revive militarism, it said.

"If Japan rushes madly down the path of remilitarization and attempts a new round of invasion, it will end up in far more severe self-destruction than in the past," the article warned.

Contact the writers at houjunjie@chinadaily.com.cn