By Hua Dan, Liu Zheng and Xiao Liming

华丹 刘峥 肖力铭

Japan plans to issue construction bonds worth 511.7 billion yen ($3.29 billion) to finance its defense buildup this year, an increase of 77.4 billion yen from the previous year, according to Japanese media reports on May 7. It is reported that in 2023, the Kishida government abandoned Japan's previous policy of not relying on borrowing to cover defense expenses, in an attempt to strengthen the so-called defense capability.

据日本媒体5月7日报道，日本计划本年度发行5117亿日元的建设国债，用以筹集防卫开支。这一金额比去年增加774亿日元。据悉，2023年，岸田政府为强化所谓防卫力，解除了日本此前坚持的不靠借款筹集防卫开支的方针。

In recent years, Japan has accelerated the transformation of its defense system, increased its defense spending year by year and continuously promoted the militarization of civilian resources. From the use of public debt for military purposes, to the large-scale upgrading and expansion of civil airports and seaports that began last year, to the recent admission of US warships to its civil ports, all these moves demonstrate that Japan is constantly breaking the framework of the pacifist constitution, deliberately blurring the boundaries between peacetime and wartime, and accelerating the expansion of its military power. These acts show a dangerous and belligerent tendency.

近年来，日本加速推动防卫体制转型，逐年增加防卫开支，不断推动民用资源军事化。从将公共债务用于军事目的，到去年开始对民用机场和港口进行大规模升级扩建，再到不久前接纳美军舰艇停靠民用港口，种种动作表明，日本正不断打破和平宪法框架，刻意模糊平战界限，加速扩张军事力量，呈现出危险的好战动向。

After the end of World War II, to prevent the further expansion of Japan's militarist power, the US not only took measures to destroy the defense industrial base that supported Japan's capacity to launch wars, but also strictly limited its military spending and the size of its Self-Defense Forces. Bound by the pacifist constitution, Japan is highly reliant on protection from the US in terms of military security, and devotes its main energy to the development of the civil economy.

二战结束后，美国为防止日本军国主义力量再次扩张，不仅采取措施摧毁了支撑日本发动战争的国防工业基础，还严格限制其军费开支和自卫队规模。受和平宪法的约束，日本在安全上高度依赖美国的庇护，将主要精力用在发展民用经济上。

However, this does not mean that the Japanese right-wing forces have given up their ambition to rebuild Japan into a military power. In recent years, as the US speeds up its pursuit of "great power competition" and the "Indo-Pacific strategy", Japan has seized the opportunity to constantly strengthen its military ties with the US, in an attempt to loosen restrictions on its military development. During the Abe administration, Japan removed the ban on the right of collective self-defense under the slogan of "Proactive Pacifism", which severely weakened the restrictions on the scope of activities of the Japan Self-Defense Forces imposed by the pacifist constitution.

然而，这并不意味着日本右翼放弃了谋求重返军事大国的野心。近年来，随着美国加速推进“大国竞争”和“印太战略”，日本趁机不断加强与美国的军事捆绑，试图以此换取自身军事松绑。安倍执政时期开始打着“积极和平主义”旗号，强行解禁集体自卫权，令和平宪法对自卫队施加的活动范围限制受到严重削弱。

The Kishida government has mostly inherited Abe's legacy in Japanese security policy. It not only revised the three security and defense-related documents to add provisions allowing Japan to build counterattack capabilities, but also unabashedly shifted Japan's defense system to a defense architecture of the whole country. At the end of 2022, Japan adopted a new version of National Defense Strategy, which defines the defense architecture of the whole country as building "an overall national defense architecture by integrating Japan's national power--diplomatic, intelligence, economic, and technological--as well as by systematically combining all policy means." In July 2023, Japan released its new Defense of Japan white paper, which further elaborates on the defense architecture of the whole country, emphasizing that in the future, it would adopt an integrated system to improve the effectiveness of joint operations and achieve seamless operation across all phases from peacetime to armed contingencies.

岸田政府很大程度上继承了安倍的安保遗产，不仅修改了三份安保政策文件，增加了构筑“反击能力”的进攻性条款，还将防卫体制毫不掩饰地转向“举国防卫”。2022年底，日本通过的新版《国家防卫战略》，将“举国防卫体制”定义为“综合日本所拥有的外交能力、经济能力等各项能力，体系化组合运用各种政策手段打造”的防卫体制。2023年7月，日本正式发布新版《防卫白皮书》对该体制作出进一步阐述，强调未来将采取一体化联合运用体制，提升联合作战效能，实现从平时到战时的无缝衔接。

In fact, the above-mentioned concept complies with the so-called "whole-of-government and whole-of-society" approaches of the US, seeking to concentrate resources from all sectors, and coordinate the efforts of governments at all levels, non-governmental organizations, and even individuals, blur the boundaries between peacetime and wartime, and ultimately enhance Japan's overall military deterrence. These moves with hidden evil intentions fully manifest the dangerous changes in Japan's defense system.

上述概念实际上是遵循美国所谓的“全政府、全社会”路径，谋求集中各方面资源，统筹各级政府、民间机构乃至个人力量，模糊平战界限，最终增强整体军事威慑力。这些暗藏祸心的举动，充分凸显了日本防卫体制的危险转变。

In recent years, while significantly adjusting its security strategy, Japan has also advanced and expanded military-civilian resource sharing in preparation for its involvement in future wars. To this end, Japan spares no effort to hype up the "military threats" it will probably face in the future and deliberately describes the increasingly complicated geopolitical environment as a "security threat" facing the Japanese people. To "fully defend the lives and livelihoods of Japanese nationals" , Japan's Ministry of Defense has demanded that the defense budget be doubled from 1% of GDP in 2023 to 2% by 2027. To raise funds to cover the massive defense expenses, the Japanese government is bound to issue bonds on a large scale, which will further aggravate its fiscal difficulties.

在深度调整安保战略的同时，近年来，日本还加速拓展军民共用资源，意图为介入未来战争做准备。日本极力渲染未来可能遭到的军事威胁，并把日益复杂的地缘环境变化说成是对日本国民的“安全威胁”，为了“有效保卫国民”，日本防卫省已经要求2027年前，将防卫预算占国内生产总值的比重从2023年的1%倍增至2%。为筹措庞大的防卫预算，日本政府势必大量发行债券，这也将导致日本财政困境进一步加重。

On May 3, more than 30,000 Japanese citizens flooded the streets of Tokyo in a massive rally to defend their country's pacifist constitution and express their strong anxiety about the rising militarist tendency in Japan. After Japan introduced the defense architecture of the whole country, people could not help but recall the dark history of the Japanese military during World War II when it carried out the "total war". At that time, the Japanese rulers completely placed the country under the control of the militarists, with its political, economic, ideological, and educational sectors all involved in its war of aggression. All Japanese people became a component of the "war machine"; they either participated in the war in person or provided support in the rear areas, forming the social basis for Japan to launch the war of aggression.

5月3日，3万余名日本民众在东京举行护宪集会表达对日本新军国主义动向的强烈不安。“举国防卫体制”提出后，让人不禁联想起二战期间日本军部推行“总力战”的黑暗历史。当时，日本当权者把国家完全置于军国主义分子的控制之下，其国内政治、经济、思想、教育等领域全部被纳入侵略战争轨道。全体国民被绑上战争机器，或参战，或进行后方支援，构成日本发动侵略战争的社会基础。

At present, more and more Japanese people are expressing strong dissatisfaction with the expansion of military strength by those in power under the guise of civilian use, and they worry that they will be forcibly tied to the chariot of militarism and become "cannon fodder" in war again. The international community also worries that Japan is repeating the old path of militarism by devoting more civilian resources to supporting arms expansion.

当前，越来越多的日本民众对当权者以民用为幌子发展军力表达强烈不满，担心重新被绑上军国主义“战车”，再次沦为战争炮灰。国际社会也担忧，日本将民用资源更多地投入到支撑扩军备战，是在走军国主义的老路。

Currently, the Japanese government is comprehensively promoting the transition of its defense system, which has further deteriorated the regional security situation. This is widely considered an extremely dangerous move. The Japanese government should draw lessons from history, stick to the path of peaceful development, and avoid going further down the dangerous road.

目前，日本政府全面推进防卫体制转型，进一步恶化了地区安全形势，这是极其危险的举动。日本政府应深刻汲取历史教训，坚持走和平发展道路，避免在危险的道路上越走越远。

(The authors are from the PLA Army Engineering University.)

（作者单位：陆军工程大学）