Xinhua News Agency
March 6, 2015
Japan’s ruling coalition eye new law to expand SDF roles amid concerns
TOKYO: Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito Party on Friday approved the government’s plan for legislation to implement a Cabinet decision to reinterpret Japan’s pacifist Constitution and allow Japan’s forces to exercise collective self-defense and defend an ally, even if Japan is not under attack.
The change was presented by the government to the ruling coalition’s security talks. The move comes as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ‘s push to see Japan’s Self-Defense Forces ( SDF) granted a bigger role at home and overseas under Abe’s notion of a new “proactive pacifism” and is the latest step towards normalizing Japan’s military.
This new step came after increased military spending at the beginning of this year – marking the largest military budget since WWII – the contentious and unilateral reinterpreting of Japan’s decades-old war-renouncing Constitution last year, and, prior to that, the creation of a U.S.-styled Security Council.
Under the new pieces of legislation being eyed, the laws restricting Japan’s ability to respond to an armed attack and other connected matters will be revised, along the lines of the Cabinet’s current reinterpretation of the Constitution and forces will be allowed the right to collective self-defense in some scenarios.
Exercising the right of collective self-defense will be become the “primary mission” of the SDF, once the Self-Defense Forces Law has been revised.
As many as 10 new pieces of legislation will be submitted during the current Diet session, all aimed at expanding the role of the SDF overseas, with the ruing LDP and its Komeito coalition ally seeking to have the details nailed down by March 20.
Some Komeito members are still concerned about the government’s push to expand the role of the SDF and are calling for further debate and clarification on points, or new scenarios, still deemed overly ambiguous.
Possible scenarios the SDF could be involved in once the new legislation is passed, could see Japanese troops transport Japanese nationals who have been evacuated from conflict zones, or other dangerous predicaments overseas, or situations concerning minesweeping missions when an ally is under attack.
Some members of the Komeito party believe that the current plan is too vague and far more discussions need to be held, before any new legislation is drafted.
Similarly, defense analysts here have also suggested that without a public mandate, any change to the Constitution flies in the face of Japan’s Democratic ideals and proves that the government is not acting in the best interests of those it is purporting to serve and protect because the majority of the Japanese public are against revising the SDF law, amending the nation’s time-honored Constitution and expanding the role of the SDF in general.
The public are concerned that Japan could easily get drawn into a conflict oversees, which could have serious ramifications on home soil.
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