China just released an audio recording of a recent radio exchange between Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Chinese Navy.
The Japanese side identified itself by saying: "This is Japan Navy."
The Chinese Navy immediately responded:
Your so-called Japan Navy has violated your own constitution.
To understand how inappropriate "Japan Navy" is, imagine an employee whose official title is "staff member" walking into a board meeting and declaring:
"Good morning. I'm the chairman."
That is exactly what happened on the radio. A self-defense force is the strictly defensive organization Japan was permitted to retain after WWII.
A navy is a full military branch of a sovereign state, capable of offensive operations.
The distance between the two words is huge enough to separate the postwar order from its collapse.
According to Article 9 of Japan's Constitution:
"Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained."
And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Consider Japan's growing list of "small moves" in recent years.
1. Using offensive weapons in military exercises
2. Sending vessels of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force to pass through the Taiwan Strait
3. Putting an active-duty service member on the ruling party's stage
4. Promoting discussions on nuclear deterrence
One word at a time. One step at a time.
From "self-defense force" to "navy."
From "exclusively defense-oriented" to counterstrike capabilities.
From preserving the pacifist Constitution to campaigning for constitutional revision.
From honoring three nonnuclear principles to opening questioning nuclear taboos.
Taken together, they reveal a much larger transformation:
A force created in the name of self-defense is gradually shedding that label and reclaiming the identity of a full-fledged military, inch by inch.
The most important changes often do not begin with a declaration. Sometimes, they begin with a few words over the radio:
"This is Japan Navy."
And history is watching who lets them pass.