Abe should open his eyes to reality

It was really a clumsy decision for Australia to move toward a de-facto military alliance with Japan after the latter violated its pacifist constitution. The US and its allies should learn from World War II, or else their wrong decisions will eventually hurt themselves.

On Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the new defense technology agreement would be part of "engraving the special relationship" with Australia, and both countries would be "joining hands with the US". Abe's speech actually made Australia one of the central planks of Japan's security plan for the Asia-Pacific region.

Abe's cabinet adopted a resolution on July 1 reinterpreting Article 9 of the Constitution to lift the country's self-imposed ban on exercising collective self-defense. The move will not only shift Japan away from its postwar pacifist position, but also facilitate the strengthening of Japan-US alliance, which is wanting in military substance because of the restrictions of Article 9.