Nick G.
Now that Abbott is no longer PM, a little of
the truth surrounding the preferred Japanese build for the new submarines is
starting to emerge.
While still clinging to the denials of a “secret
handshake” deal between Abbott and Shinzo Abe, Japanese officials have now revealed
that they were told by the Abbott government that they were needed to build the
new submarines.
This is despite a pre-election promise to the
Australian people that the subs would be built here.
US in a
hurry to integrate Japanese and Australian armed forces
This is all part of a US grand plan to have
Japan and Australia integrated seamlessly into the military machine it is
building against its rival China.
One aspect of this is “interoperability” –getting
the US and its key allies to standardise their weapons and communications
technologies so that they all function as one unit.
The other major aspect is getting the
Japanese military to emerge from the chrysalis of a post-WW 2 Constitution that
restricts where and how the Japanese military can operate, and prevents
Japanese industries from exporting weaponry.
In an article in the Adelaide Advertiser on October
24, journalist Tory Shepherd states that “ongoing unofficial conversations and
briefings, and a request for Japan to consider exporting their technology,
convinced Japan that they would eventually be signed up to build eight to 12
submarines.”
Shepherd quotes a Japanese Ministry of
Defence spokesperson, Hidehiro Ikematsu, as saying that the unofficial
conversations had begun under the former Labor government, which comes as no
surprise at all given its strident cheerleading for US imperialism and its
agreement to host a US marine base at Darwin.
However it was the Abbott Government that
went from looking at options for building the new submarines to requesting that
Japan be the builder. Hidehiro Ikematsu
refers to an “official request” that “came under the Abbott Government”.
Abbott “request’
facilitates emergence of revived Japanese militarism
The Australian requirement that Japan be the
builder of the next generation submarines has been a crucial factor in Abe’s
push to revise the Japanese Constitution and effectively embed his nation’s
armed forces (the miss-named Self-Defence Forces or SDF) within the global
deployment of forces available to US imperialism. Abe was able to point to a highly profitable overseas
demand for Japanese technology that only the Constitution was blocking.
Opposition to Abe’s revisions has given birth
to massive opposition in Japan as a whole new generation of activists come
forward to support an older generation who saw in the pacifist Constitution a
guarantee that the Japanese people would never again be sacrificed on the altar
of Japanese militarism.
For the moment, Abe has prevailed, and has
established a new agency within the Ministry of Defence to expedite weapons
sales abroad. According to a report on
October 1 from Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper:
“The new entity, called the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency, is
expected to serve at the core of Abe’s strategy to enhance international
military cooperation through arms exchanges. The government allocated an annual budget of 2 trillion
yen ($16.68 billion) for the agency, which will have a staff of around 1,800.
“In preparation for when the new security legislation
takes effect, the Defense Ministry also plans to revise the SDF rules of
engagement covering the use of weapons and other actions to deal with a wider
range of duties.
“In April last year, the Abe administration relaxed the
nation’s long-standing ban on weapons exports, enabling Japanese companies that
meet certain conditions to sell arms overseas and engage in joint development
and production of weaponry with foreign firms.
“The arms agency will be responsible for administrative
procedures to assist those Japanese companies.”
In a second article in the same edition of the paper, it
was revealed that the Acquisition and Cross- Servicing Agreement (ACSA) between
japan and the US will be revised to allow Japan and the United States “to
better coordinate their military forces in logistic support in a possible
conflict with a common enemy.”
The article adds: “By
revising ‘contingencies in areas surrounding Japan’ into ‘serious influence
situations,’ the new agreement will remove the geographical limitation imposed
on the SDF in logistically supporting the U.S. military.”
(Above: US Marines and Japanese SDF in joint training exercise)
What is at stake…
Abbott has been revealed as a vile lick-spittle of the US
imperialists, prepared to shamelessly break a major election promise worth
$40-50 billion dollars and years and years of employment for Australian
workers, in order to assist Shinzo Abe to defy the Japanese people and their
Constitution in order to place a revived Japanese militarism at the service of
US imperialism.
Major political changes of this nature are not taken
lightly. An Australian Prime Minister
does not lightly risk the wrath of the Australian people to break a cut and
dried election promise. A Japanese Prime
Minister does not lightly run the risk of massive domestic unpopularity to revise
a popular Constitution.
These are the doings of politicians who know that the
agenda of the US imperialists is to confront and provoke its major economic,
political and military rival – China.
The demand for opposition to US imperialist war plans
must resonate widely and loudly.
The popular call for an independent and peaceful
Australian foreign policy must be amplified.
