Japan's Elections Rattle China

[Vikrant]

With Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party rolling to a big victory in elections over the weekend, one of the biggest losers could turn out to be the country’s regional rival, China. The LDP, which already was in charge of the lower house of the Diet, regained control of the upper house on Sunday, trouncing the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. The landslide could embolden Abe, who has made no secret of his desire to counter China’s rise by rewriting the pacifist constitution imposed on the Japanese by the Americans after the end of World War II.

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Japan's Elections Rattle China - Businessweek

 

[Unkotare]

Such an amendment would reflect reality more than anything else. Japan's self-defense forces are already quite formidable. Actual armed conflict between China and Japan on a large scale would remain as unlikely as it is now.