By Daniel Clausen
The country needs a leader who is a conservative on defense and a progressive on history.
Since the end of the Cold War, Japan’s diplomacy, defense posture, and international roles have changed markedly. Over time, Japan has loosened restrictions on the use of its Self Defense Force, allowing units to be used for peacekeeping and in overseas disaster relief; expanded its interpretation of Article 9 to make cooperation with the U.S. in a number of contingencies more permissible; and loosened restrictions on weapons sales and weapons development cooperation.
These moves have often been pragmatic, gradual steps to meet a changing international climate. However, despite generally positive changes in defense and diplomacy, there is a consensus that Japan is regressing on issues of history, and that its stance on issues such as Yasukuni, the Nanjing massacre, or the comfort women issue has isolated the country from potential allies and undermined its influence in the region.
There was nothing inevitable about this trajectory. During the early to mid 1990s, when the Kono Statement on Comfort Women and the Murayama Statement on war responsibility were issued, there was a perception that Japan was finally facing up to its past. However, under the conservative governments of Koizumi Junichiro (2001-2006) and now the second Abe Shinzo administration (2012-present), Japan has needlessly tarnished its reputation with official visits to Yasukuni Shrine and through intimations that the Abe Shinzo government hopes to ultimately revise the Murayama Statement.
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