(Newswire.net — March 13, 2015) — After Tokyo announced plans to introduce a new law allowing it to offer logistical support to foreign allies’ troops in conflicts abroad, China released a statement urging Japan to remain pacifistic and continue ”on the pathway of peace.”
According to China’s ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua, Beijing hopes Tokyo will “take a correct attitude, stick to its previous correct positions and statements, including the Murayama Statement,” China Daily newspaper reported.
The Murayama Statement refers to a written apology signed in 1995 by Japan’s then-PM Tomiichi Murayama, for the damage and suffering caused by Tokyo during WWII.
“If Tokyo attempts to tackle the war incorrectly, or to impose ambiguity or defiance upon its war-related actions, we will worry about it further honoring the pathway of peace,” Yonghua told China Daily.
He added that any such attempt will “deal serious harm once again” to Asian people, and the move will feel like “peeling off a fresh scab and rubbing salt in the wound.”
Japan’s new law would allow the nation’s Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to offer logistical support to foreign allies’ troops in conflicts abroad. This means if other forces confront China, Japan has the right to assist and offer logistical support against their Asian neighbor. The ‘country of the rising sun’ is planning on discussing the new law proposal Friday in a meeting with the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito.
According to the draft copy of the new law, Japan’s ‘self-defence Forces’ would be allowed to participate in remote military missions mandated by UN resolutions, as well as those led by the US and UK, like ones after the 9/11 attacks.
Japan also wants to look into the possibility of giving the SDF the freedom to support other missions in the world, like ones in the European Union, or Africa. The new law does not allow fighting, only military aid in the form of supplying munitions, medical help and transportation support.
According to the draft copy of the new law, the units would automatically withdraw if fighting begins in the area of their deployment. Search and rescue missions would be the only ones exempt from these rules.
China is worried that Japan’s new law is the first step in allowing Japan to fight wars anywhere in the world, since Japan renounced war after the adoption of the 1947 Constitution.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet gave the green light to an unprecedented nearly-5 trillion yen ($42 billion) defense budget, which is the first serious military budget expansion in 70 years.