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5
5
Remove them Maintain them
Debate Score:10
Arguments:13
Total Votes:10
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 Remove them (5)
 
 Maintain them (5)

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Del1176(4974) pic



This House would remove United States military bases from Japan. (Prodigee supports)

Since the end of World War II and Japan's surrender to the Allies, the United States has retained a considerable military presence on the island nation. US forces are distributed across the major islands, but concentrated mostly on the small island of Okinawa. Initially used as an occupation force to ensure the post-war peace, the bases soon took on the role of strategic positions during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Japan was a necessary forward base for fighting the Korean and Vietnam wars. However even when the Soviet Union collapsed the bases remained. Now, more than sixty years since the end of World War II, the United States continues to maintain its bases and resist urges to leave. The Japanese public has for several years clamored for their removal, citing numerous crimes committed by American soldiers against Japanese civilians over the years. The United States, on the other hand, has persisted in its insistence that the bases are vital for maintaining security in East Asia and for protecting Japan, which has no standing military capable of offensive combat. Proponents of removing the bases, cite the lack of need and mandate from the Japanese people, and the strategic and diplomatic benefits they perceive as stemming from withdrawal. Opponents contend that the bases are a strategic necessity for protecting Japan and for maintaining stability in East Asia. Debates thus focus on the issues of whether the bases are necessary for the security of Japan and East Asia, and whether or not the United States military is a force for good in Japan.

Remove them

Side Score: 5
VS.

Maintain them

Side Score: 5
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1 point

The bases are there at the request of the Japanese government. We get a vantage point to protect Taiwan and keep an eye on China and Japan gets extra defense it's a win-win.

Side: Maintain them
Del1176(4974) Clarified
1 point

I fail to see how Japan gets a win in this "win-win".

Side: Remove them
warrior(1854) Clarified
1 point

They get a boost to there national security. Japan only has a small inexperienced defense force to defend themselves it china or Russia ever wanted more land they would be a prim target. But with us there no one is dumb enough to try. Plus we pay rent on those bases.

Side: Remove them

They actually requested it. They do not mind. Same with South Korea. They really don't care. We can keep watch of China and North Korea and monitor imports and exports and any strange activity.

Side: Maintain them
Del1176(4974) Disputed
1 point

Every state has a right to shape its own destiny and that of its people. It must therefore have control over its defense policy, which necessarily shape its interactions with other states. The Japanese constitution contains a clause, forced into it by the American occupiers, denying Japan the power to develop a military of its own. The ironic thing is that the United States military now claims to be doing Japan a favor by retaining its bases, claiming that because they have no military they cannot defend themselves. With the United States military gone, Japan will be able to begin reconsidering its defense policy and to shape it in the image it sees as befitting itself, not how the United States envisions it1. The presence of American troops in lieu of a Japanese military hampers Japan's ability to shape a defense policy on its own terms, instead having to defer to the United States, whose interest might or might not coincide with Japan's. In any event, the Japan Self-Defense Forces are well suited to the task of defending Japan, as it is the sixth largest defense organization by expenditure in the world1. It is not in any real danger of being overwhelmed by aggressors in the absence of American protection. In order to fully take its place on the world stage and to become a full member of the community of free nations, Japan must be able to direct its own defense and foreign policies. This can only truly happen once the United States withdraws its forces from Japan.

1 Weinberg, Neil. 2005. "The Front Line". Forbes.

2 SIPRI. 2010. "Military Expenditure of Japan". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Side: Remove them
1 point

Do you remember when Japan did have a military? Of course. They invaded and took over parts of China. Also we are tied in business with them and they still want us to remain there. The public does not care of American troops walking their land. Their economy and education is still sharp and they help us with many things.

Side: Maintain them