Japan's adoption of security bills poses threat to regional stability

A protester wears a cutout of a defaced portrait of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while holding a sign which reads "security bill", as others carry illustrations of the Japanese military flag, during a demonstration outside the Japanese consulate in Hong Kong, China July 7, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Japan is one step closer to exercising the right to collective self-defense, as the lower house of parliament on Thursday approved two controversial security bills designed to expand the role of its Self-Defense Forces. Comments:

With Asia integrating into a shared geo-economy, Japan will benefit more from the trend if it chooses to take part in the ongoing globalization and pushes for closer coordination with China. On the one hand, Tokyo does not have to cut off its traditional economic connections with the Western powers; on the other, it should not go against the regional integration with remilitarization.

ifeng.com, July 16

Although claiming that the SDF's overseas deployment will be used only when Japan faces a survival crisis or an ally such as the United States asks for help, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is just trying to fool the public for more support. In the foreseeable future, Tokyo is likely to reinterpret the use of the terms so it can engage in an overseas war if the international or domestic situation changes.

People's Liberation Army Daily, July 17

It is understandable that Japan has concerns for its future development and national security. But lifting the ban on its right to collective self-defense and pursuing militarization will only put the country in a worse security dilemma at the cost of long-term benefits. Instead, it should cooperate with China for its own security as well as Asian prosperity. This would also contribute to maintaining global peace.

Beijing Youth Daily, July 17

What Abe has done - ignoring the pacifist Constitution, muscling through the new security bills and misinterpreting Japan's actions before and during the World War II - originate from his historical revisionism. Such a mentality finds expression not only in his blind worship of prewar Japan and his eulogies to it, but also in his contempt for Japan's pacifist road of development after WWII.

Beijing Times, July 17