In scenes unusually raucous for Japanese politics, opposition lawmakers had packed the corridors of the upper house in protest and surrounded the chairman of the security legislation committee in a bid to prevent physically a vote overnight. But opponents say the legislation violates the pacifist constitution and puts Japan at risk of being drawn into US-led wars.
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Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators have been gathering in recent weeks outside the Japanese parliament building – the largest demonstrations of their kind in Japan in more than 50 years.
The bills are scheduled to be voted on by the committee in the upper house this week after they sailed through the lower house with a two-thirds majority back in July.
The legal revisions include an end to a decades-old ban on defending a friendly nation under attack, or collective self-defence, when Japan faces a “threat to its survival”.
Abe’s government introduced the legislation to parliament in May, triggering nationwide rallies accusing him of using it as a pretext for militarily involving Japan in international armed conflicts.
“Most people are worried that the new legislation that lifts constitutional constraints from the Japanese military will mean that somehow, somewhere, sometime Japan will be dragged into war at Washington’s behest and that this won’t actually improve deterrence”, said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo. Abe also promised the U.S. that the bills would pass in parliament by this summer.
Tensions remained high between ruling and opposition lawmakers as a final question-and-answer session of the upper house committee, with Abe in attendance, was delayed for more than two hours.
The opposition also tabled a no-confidence vote against Mr Konoike.
Mr Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) dominates both houses of parliament with its coalition partner, the Komeito Party.
Abe does appear to have the votes for the bill to pass the Diet, perhaps on Friday, but public support is tepid. An opinion poll conducted by the Asahi Shimbunon September 12-13 shows that a whopping 75 percent of the respondents do not think that the debate over the bill has been exhausted.
The organisers claimed that 35,000 protesters were present in the rally, while the police officials said the number was around 13,000.
Japan’s students have been very passive since the protests that engulfed the country in 1960 over the adoption of the original security treaty.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has pushed a set of controversial security bills through a legislative committee, catching the opposition by surprise.
“People are angry and becoming united because of the lack of explanation from the government and the lack of trust in the way these bills are being presented”, Okuda said.
DPJ’s current party leaders need to realize that, by deciding to oppose the bill without offering any counter-proposal, it renounced its position as an opposition that can offer credible and viable alternatives to the voters, thereby further marginalizing itself.
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We believe the likelihood of an economic recovery in Japan strong enough to restore economic support for sovereign creditworthiness commensurate with our previous assessment has diminished.
