終戦７０年 平和の堅持へ国際協調貫こう

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Enhance international cooperation to guard peace
終戦７０年　平和の堅持へ国際協調貫こう

　◆安保法案成立で抑止力の向上を◆

Aug. 15 this year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
　１５日は、７０回目の「終戦の日」である。

We should take this occasion to offer silent, sincere prayers for the repose of the souls of more than 3 million people who perished against their will in that terrible conflict, while renewing our resolve for peace.
　先の大戦で心ならずも犠牲になった３００万人以上の冥福を静かに祈るとともに、平和への誓いを新たにしたい。

Mayor Tomihisa Taue of Nagasaki, in a Peace Declaration he issued on Aug. 9, made reference to the security-related bills, stating, “There is widespread unease and concern that ... the peaceful ideology of the Constitution of Japan [is] now wavering.” He went on to say, “I urge the government and the Diet to listen to these voices of unease and concern ... and conduct careful and sincere deliberations.”
　長崎市の田上富久市長は９日の平和宣言で、安全保障関連法案に言及し、「憲法の平和の理念が、今揺らいでいるのではないかという不安と懸念が広がっている」と述べた。政府と国会がこの不安と懸念に耳を傾け、「慎重で真摯しんしな審議」を行うことも注文した。

Bills misunderstood
　◆日米同盟は公共財だ

The set of security-related bills centering around endorsement of the exercise of Japan’s right of collective self-defense is aimed at ensuring Japan’s peace and security through strengthening defense cooperation between the Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces and others.
　集団的自衛権の行使容認を柱とする安保法案は、自衛隊と米軍などの防衛協力を強化し、日本の平和と安全を確保することを目指すものだ。

It is regrettable that the bills’ aim has been taken as meaning the exact opposite.
正反対の受け止めをされているのは残念である。

Japan in the past 70 years has never been involved in any war, including the period of Cold War between East and West and the post-Cold War days. This record was not achieved simply by the grace of the pacifism based on the Constitution.
　日本はこの７０年間、東西冷戦時代もポスト冷戦期も戦争に巻き込まれなかった。これは、憲法の平和主義のお陰だけではない。

Of greater significance are efforts to found the SDF in 1954 to upgrade the country’s defense capabilities in a way better suited to the changing times, and to revise in 1960 the Japan-U.S. security treaty to steadily strengthen the bilateral alliance.
　むしろ１９５４年に自衛隊を創設して、時代に即した防衛力を整備しつつ、６０年に日米安保条約を改定し、同盟関係を着実に強化してきたことが大きい。

The Japan-U.S. alliance has now been broadly recognized as an international public good conducive to stabilizing the Asian region as a whole.
　日米同盟は今、アジア全体を安定させるための国際公共財として広く認知されている。

Examples illustrating the crucial importance of military might and deterrent power for the sake of defending a country’s territory and its populace are innumerable indeed, including the Korean War, the incursion by the former Soviet Union into Afghanistan, the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and Russia’s invasion of Georgia.
　朝鮮戦争や、旧ソ連によるアフガニスタンへの侵攻、イラクのクウェート侵略、ロシアのグルジア侵攻――。領土や国民を守る軍事力と抑止力の重要性を示す実例は枚挙にいとまがない。

A belief that peace can be secured merely by desiring “peace for all time” and “trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world” as stipulated in the preamble of the Constitution is no better than an idealistic theory that disregards the harsh realities of international relations.
　憲法前文にある「恒久の平和を念願」し、「平和を愛する諸国民の公正と信義に信頼」するだけで平和が確保されるというのは、国際政治の冷徹なリアリズムを無視した理想論だろう。

Before the war, Japan withdrew from the the League of Nations, which was groping for ways of materializing the ideal of collective security, deliberately shattering the world order at that time.
　日本は戦前、集団安全保障を模索した国際連盟を脱退し、世界秩序を破壊する側に立った。

After the war, this county, because of soul-searching about that wartime past, placed excessively strict constraints on the activities of the SDF.
　戦後は、その反省から、自衛隊の活動を過度に抑制してきた。

There can be no denying that many Japanese, dependent on the United States for the nation’s security policy while blessed with peace and prosperity under the U.S.-led international order, have been apt to drift into a state of being unable to think about what should be done to secure the country’s peace and security.
米国主導の国際秩序による平和と繁栄を享受する中、安全保障政策を米国に依存し、思考停止に陥りがちだったことは否めない。

Record of trust
　◆世界秩序を支える側に

The turning point came with the 1991 Gulf War. The SDF was dispatched after the fighting ended to conduct minesweeping operations and has since been involved in U.N. peacekeeping operations. The SDF built up a solid track record and steadily earned the trust of other nations.
　転機は９１年の湾岸戦争だ。戦後の機雷掃海や国連平和維持活動に自衛隊を派遣して実績を積み、関係国の信頼を着実に得てきた。

The new security-related legislation, which will expand the international activities of the SDF, is an extension of this. As well as rectifying the previously overcautious interpretation of the Constitution, Japan must play its part as a nation willing to support the new international order and fulfill an appropriate level of responsibility.
　自衛隊の国際活動を拡充する安保法案は、この延長線上にある。慎重過ぎた憲法解釈を適正化するとともに、新たな国際秩序を支える有志国の一翼を担い、応分の責任を果たさねばなるまい。

The United Nations, which will mark the 70th anniversary of its founding in October, is prone to dysfunction for reasons including the veto power held by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. It is often a stretch to say the United Nations is effectively playing a role in resolving international disputes.
　今年１０月に創設７０年を迎える国際連合は、安全保障理事会の５常任理事国の拒否権などで機能不全に陥り易やすい。紛争解決に役割を十分果たしているとは言い難い。

At present, China is trumpeting its self-righteous logic in the East China and South China seas, where it is attempting to change the status quo through force. Russia is doing the same in Ukraine. Both of these nations, backed up by their massive military might, ignore international criticism of their behavior.
　今、中国は東・南シナ海で、ロシアはウクライナでそれぞれ独善的な論理を振りかざし、力による現状変更を試みている。いずれも強大な軍事力を背景にし、国際社会の批判にも耳を貸さない。

For Japan, China’s military buildup and maritime expansion are serious problems. If China’s defense budget continues to grow at its current pace, in five years it will be more than four times the size of Japan’s defense budget; a decade from now, it will be almost seven times the size.
　日本にとって、中国の軍備増強と海洋進出は深刻な問題だ。中国が現在のペースで国防費を伸ばせば、５年後には日本の４倍超、１０年後には７倍近くに膨らむ。

North Korea possesses several hundred ballistic missiles that can reach Japan. The threat of terrorism is spreading, as exemplified by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant extremist group.
　北朝鮮は、日本を射程に収める弾道ミサイル数百発を保有する。過激派組織「イスラム国」などテロの脅威も拡散している。

To ensure Japan remains safe from these threats, it is essential to pass the security bills into law and strengthen multilayered cooperation with the United States, Australia and nations in Europe and Southeast Asia.
　日本の安全を確保するには、安保法案を確実に成立させ、米国や豪州、さらに東南アジア・欧州諸国との重層的な連携を強化することが欠かせない。

Diplomacy and military affairs are closely connected with each other and form a complementary pair. Making it possible for the SDF to provide a seamless response to any situation will help prevent conflict from erupting and provide backing to support peaceful diplomacy that stabilizes the region.
　外交と軍事は車の両輪として、相互補完関係にある。自衛隊による切れ目のない事態対処を可能にしておくことが、紛争を回避し、地域を安定させる平和外交を推進するための後ろ盾になろう。

Critics in some quarters have claimed the security-related bills will “make Japan a nation that can once again wage war” and “return the nation to the prewar days.” These assertions can only be described as twisted interpretations.
　安保法案には、「日本を再び戦争できる国にする」「戦前に回帰するものだ」といった批判が一部にある。曲解と言うほかない。

Japan firmly pacifist
　◆「戦争できる国」は曲論

Modern-day Japan is decisively different from prewar Japan in several ways. Now, Japan stands staunchly by the pacifism enshrined in the Constitution, rejects aggression and territorial expansion, and attaches great weight to international cooperation. Civilian control of the SDF remains firmly in place.
　今の日本が戦前と決定的に異なるのは、憲法の平和主義を堅持し、侵略や国土拡張を否定して、国際協調を重視していることだ。文民統制（シビリアンコントロール）もしっかり確保されている。

Allowing the exercise of the right of collective self-defense, as stipulated in the new security-related bills, and expanding the SDF’s humanitarian and reconstruction support activities overseas and the logistic support it can provide to military forces of other nations, will all help reinforce international solidarity.
　法案が定める集団的自衛権の行使容認や、海外における自衛隊の人道復興支援や他国軍への後方支援活動の拡充は、いずれも国際的な連帯を強固にする。

This is precisely why the overwhelming majority of nations — with the notable exceptions of China and South Korea, which have rifts with Japan over perceptions of history — highly regard and support the content of the legislation.
　だからこそ、歴史認識を巡って日本と溝がある中国、韓国を除く圧倒的多数の国々が、法案内容を高く評価、支持しているのである。

Nations have extremely high expectations for the “proactive contribution to peace based on the principle of international cooperation” put forward by the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
安倍政権の「国際協調主義に基づく積極的平和主義」に対する各国の期待は極めて高い。

The prime minister should redouble his efforts to explain the significance and necessity of the security-related bills to the public and gain greater understanding of the legislation.
　安倍首相は、安保法案の意義と必要性を国民に説明し、理解を広げる努力を倍加させるべきだ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 14, 2015)