'Let Asians fight Asians'

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

12/14/2012

Daily Tribune

A few days ago, Dec. 11 to be exact, the Philippine government through its Foreign Affairs Secretary issued words that portend great gloom for both the future of the Filipino people and the whole of Asia.
When asked in an interview with the Financial Times of London as to "whether the Philippines would support Japan dropping its pacifist constitution to become a fully fledged military force and act as a balance against a rising China," Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez, quoting DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario, said, "I think we would welcome something like that."
Other reports of that interview also directly quoted Del Rosario as saying, "We are looking for balancing factors in the region and Japan could be a significant balancing factor."

Those statements came as the Philippines is preparing for talks with its US counterparts in the Third Bilateral Strategic Dialog, which subjects include the country's territorial dispute with China. Hernandez affirmed the Philippine government's view that Japan should "upgrade" its armed and naval forces "from a self-defense force (as defined by its official name, Japan Self-Defense Force or JSDF)" to one "with the capability (of operating) in the region" — which simply is "a euphemism for allowing Japan to go beyond defense."
Truth is, Japanese military forces have already been deployed to Iraq in 2004 (upon insistence of the US) in violation of Japan's Peace Constitution. Article 9 of that Charter explicitly states that Japan will never maintain land, sea, and air forces that can constitute any potential to use force "as a means of settling international disputes."

Japan Times published an article last June entitled, "LDP's dangerous proposals for amending antiwar article," by Craig Roberts, which says: "Article 9(1)(i) looks little changed from paragraph one of the current Article 9 … Yet the slight revision contains the basis for unraveling the binding power of the constraint, like a Trojan horse smuggling in the forces of destruction.… the clause 'threat or use of force,' which is drawn from Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, is no longer subject to the 'renunciation' (the eternal nature of which has also disappeared). Rather, the clause is now qualified by the feeble and passive phrase 'will not be used.' Not the mandatory prescriptive language of 'shall not,' or 'must not,' but merely 'will not' … That would be a radical change from the current provision, which is understood to operate as a legal prohibition."

On these little words hang the future of peace in Asia and the world, as the Asian Century — centered on China's growth — revs on. The US National Intelligence Council issued its Global Trends Report last week and finds: "China's economy to outgrow America's by 2030 as World faces 'tectonic shift'… 'China alone will probably have the largest economy, surpassing that of the United States a few years before 2030… (where) power will shift to networks and coalitions in a multi-polar world…'"
Yet, it also opines self-servingly, "A collapse or sudden retreat of US power probably would result in an extended period of global anarchy (as) no leading power would be likely to replace the United States as guarantor of the international order…" That's in spite of the fact that wherever the US went, chaos followed. Over the past decade alone, US invasions of several countries have caused mounting military and civilian casualties: 640,000 in Iraq (Lancet); 100,000 in Libya (IBTimes London); 20,000 in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In Asia, despite lingering territorial issues, the region was still able to enjoy a modicum of peace after the end of the US-instigated Korean and Vietnam wars. But now comes the US "pivot" toward Asia and, along with the Japanese government "nationalizing" the Diaoyu Islands by purchasing it with the BS Aquino III administration simultaneously acting as the Asean harmony spoiler by sticking to its rabid but isolated campaign of "internationalizing" its dispute with China.
And while we are today witnessing the Japanese rightwing, the US-backed LDP, proposing loopholes into the Japanese "Peace Constitution," we can rightfully ask: What for — a "kamikaze rearmament?" And cui bono (Who benefits)?

Certainly, it's none other than the US finance and military-industrial complex fomenting the new regional arms race, coupled with the neoconservative proponents of "The New American Century" hegemony, as well as the Japanese ruling distracting its people from the fifth recession in 15 years; all these, as BS Aquino III receives more commissions in the purchase of vintage warships and fighter jets, all as a prelude for "Asians to fight Asians."
As former US President Lyndon Johnson once said, "We are not about to send American boys nine or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves."
Thus, the "new" Imperial Japan finds a good successor to its World War II puppet, Kalibapi (Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas) leader Benigno Aquino Sr., in the guise of the latter's grandson; this, as "Green Card holder" Del Rosario sets another stage for the Filipino people to be cannon fodder once again, in what historian Barbara Tuchman calls "The March of Folly."

(Watch GNN's HTL show, GNN Channel 8, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., 11:15 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m., and over at www.gnntv-asia.com on "The Economy: A True Picture" with Ibon E.D. Sonny Africa and KME economist Hiro Vaswani as guests; tune in to 1098 AM radio Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and visit http://newkatipunan.blogspot.com)