Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, have agreed with the opposition Democratic Party for the People on a bill to reduce the number of proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives by 31. The bill for the largest postwar reduction of parliamentary seats is now certain to pass the Diet during its current extraordinary session. Opinion polls by various media outlets indicate strong public support for the parliamentary seat reduction as lawmakers’ “self-sacrificing reform.” The reduction should be regarded as their first step in responding to public demands.

But achieving the parliamentary seat reduction is no reason for complacency. A key point is that the agreement has eliminated the need to significantly extend the Diet session, which is scheduled to end on December 12, paving the way for the government to focus fully on the most important challenge: the revision of three key national security documents, including the National Security Strategy, at the end of this year.

The national security environment surrounding Japan can be described as the worst since the end of World War II. China’s rapid military expansion and attempts to change the status quo through force, the deepening of coercive military cooperation between China and Russia, and North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches show that East Asia is on the verge of a contingency.

In response to threats to Japan’s existence as a sovereign nation, the government and ruling parties have a historic responsibility to fundamentally enhance deterrence through the revision of the three national security documents.

Modify the Three Non-Nuclear Principles

The revision unavoidably entails a fundamental review of the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, an idea long advocated by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Although the government and ruling parties have regarded the principles of “not possessing, not producing, and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons” as a golden rule, the time has come to begin by modifying the third principle.

The folly of continuing to place self-imposed restrictions on the U.S. extended deterrence posture, both in peacetime and in contingencies, could foster a fatal miscalculation by neighboring countries that are accelerating their nuclear buildup. Japan should now shift to a more realistic approach, including allowing port calls by nuclear-armed vessels.

Given Japan’s vast maritime domain, the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines is also an urgent matter. At a time when China and Russia continue to advance into the Pacific, nuclear-powered submarines, with long submergence capability and overwhelming cruising speed are indispensable for Japan to develop a defense system that combines sustained combat capability with difficulty in detection.

A significant increase in defense spending to achieve these objectives must be carried out steadily, without allowing debates over funding sources to serve as an excuse for delay.

The greatest responsibility is to amend the constitution

Building a strong defense system to protect the lives of the people as well as territory, territorial waters, and airspace is fundamental to the nation. Prime Minister Takaichi is required to make decisions with firm conviction and strong determination to dramatically change Japan’s national security policy, without flinching from internal and external criticism.

And the greatest mission for politics to accomplish is to amend the constitution. The constraints of Article 9 of the constitution, which has remained untouched since its enactment and has long shackled the Self-Defense Forces, should be broken. No further delay should be tolerated in establishing a system to defend our country on our own and in deleting Paragraph 2 of Article 9, which stipulates the non-possession of war potential.

Rather than treating the parliamentary seat reduction as a mere quick fix, the Diet should break away from sterile political infighting and move immediately to realize the century-long national agenda of fundamentally strengthening defense capabilities and amending the constitution.

Takashi Arimoto is a Planning Committee member at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and a columnist at the Sankei Shimbun newspaper.