BEIJING: The “enemy state clauses” in the UN Charter shall not be altered or deleted given Japan’s re-militarization, a Chinese envoy told the General Debate of the UN General Assembly on Monday local time, exercising the right of reply after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, in a statement delivered at the debate on September 22, called for deletion of the “enemy state clauses,” citing Japan’s “exclusively defense-oriented policy.”
Sun Lei, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, made the remarks and stressed that China firmly opposes Japan’s request, adding that Japan joined the United Nations after recognizing its militarist crimes and accepting the UN Charter in its entirety.
Articles 53, 77, and 107 of the UN Charter – commonly known as the “enemy state clauses” – grant the Allied powers of the anti-fascist coalition “exceptional authority” to take preemptive military action to prevent the resurgence of the World War II “Axis powers.” Since the 1960s, Japan has spent decades denigrating the “enemy state clauses.”
“The enemy state clauses in the UN Charter are a vital institutional arrangement aimed at preventing fascism and militarism from threatening international peace and security ever again. They provide important institutional safeguards for defending the post-war international order and remain extremely relevant today,” Sun said.
Analysts said that by seeking to delete the “enemy state clauses,” Japan is essentially attempting to shake off its historical guilt and remove international “legal barriers” to its military expansion. The international community should stay highly alert to Japan’s dangerous moves and take measures to curb the re-militarization attempts of Japan’s right-wing forces to jointly safeguard post-WWII order. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
