May,16,2014

Party Statement on Prime Minister Abe’s Press Conference on Acceptance of Exercising the Right of Collective Self-Defense

　Yesterday, following delivery of the report of the security policy advisory panel on exercising the right of collective self-defense, Prime Minister Abe announced the government’s basic policy. We cannot deny feeling that he has not gone far enough, stopping at limited acceptance rather than full acceptance of the right to collective self-defense, possibly due to concern for coalition partners such as the New Komeito. However, the Happiness Realization Party, which has always argued for allowing exercise of the right to collective self-defense, welcomes the fact that it has been added to the political calendar.

　The right to self-defense has always been a natural right of the state. However, the current Constitution does not clarify the right to self-defense, and the government has taken the stance that while it has the right to collective self-defense, it will not exercise it. The changes in the interpretation of the Constitution that Prime Minister Abe seeks are being harshly criticized by the left wing and by constitutional guardians, but as North Korea rushes to acquire nuclear missiles, and China becomes more aggressively military, keeping the previous interpretation of the Constitution as a “golden rule” means nothing less than the path to national destruction.

　By accepting the exercise of our right to collective self-defense, not only do we strengthen the ties of the Japan-U.S. Alliance, but we must admit that there is a risk of the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region being reduced as the United States declines. Therefore we believe that Japan should rid itself of our dependency on the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and we should make our stance, of defending our own country ourselves, clear.

　While we should move ahead quickly with revising Article 9 in constructing a self-defense system, in practical terms changing the Constitution is a hard task, so the Happiness Realization Party desires that, in changing the interpretation of the Constitution, any nation that intends to invade is treated as falling outside of Article 9, and thoroughgoing measures are undertaken to deal with an real and present danger.

Ryoko Shaku,
Party Leader,
Happiness Realization Party