Commentary by Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan.

“Next month Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will attend the 60th commemoration of the 1955 Bandung Conference of Asian and African leaders in Jakarta…

There are other reasons why Abe’s participation in the Bandung ceremonies resonates with irony. The 10-point declaration issued in 1955 that was agreed to by the 29 Asian and African leaders that attended, including Japan, specifically calls for “abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defence to serve the particular interests of any of the big powers.” The new Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation commit Japan to just such arrangements and in conjunction with Abe’s pending legislation on collective self-defense, contravene the Bandung spirit…”