The heads of state of the G7 countries are convening in Ise-Shima, Japan for their annual summit. They were preceded by their foreign ministers, whose meeting in Hiroshima in April produced a strongly worded statement on China’s “intimidating” and “provocative” military maneuvers in the East and South China Seas.
The tension in East Asia will hang heavy over the summit—and so will the host country’s response to it.
China’s behavior has put new life into a fierce debate about Japanese militarism that’s been rumbling since the end of World War II. In March, controversial new military legislation passed by Shinzo Abe’s government at last came into effect. It authorizes the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to engage in “collective self-defense” and to come to the aid of an ally under attack, thereby increasing the scope for Japanese military actions overseas.
According to its supporters, the legislation brings Japan into line with standard practice across the rest of the world, and allows the country to fulfill its international obligations, especially vis-à-vis its allies. In contrast, critics of the legislation argue that it directly contravenes Article 9 of Japan’s postwar constitution: “The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.”
