Japan Govt Adopts National Security Bills

Tokyo, May 14 (Jiji Press)--Japan's government on Thursday adopted national security bills that pave the way for the country to exercise the right to collective self-defense on the basis of a new constitutional interpretation endorsed last year. The bills provide legal grounds to expand the Self-Defense Forces' logistic support for U.S. forces in accordance with bilateral defense cooperation guidelines that Japan and the United States revised in April. The package of bills, if enacted, will mark a qualitative shift in Japan's security policy, which has been exclusively defense-oriented. Adopted at a cabinet meeting were a set of 10 bills to revise existing relevant laws, including one to amend the SDF law to allow Japan to exercise the collective self-defense right, and a bill to establish a new permanent law enabling the government to dispatch SDF troops abroad whenever needed. Last July, the government changed its constitutional interpretation to lift Japan's self-imposed ban on the exercise of the collective self-defense right. The government will submit all the bills to the Diet, Japan's parliament, on Friday. As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has indicated his intention to have the bills enacted this summer, the government aims to achieve the goal with an extension of the current Diet session, now set to end on June 24. Speaking at a press conference, Abe sought public understanding of the significance of the "seamless" legal framework to deal with normal to emergency situations. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a separate news conference that it is important that the Diet go to every length to enact the bills during the current session to strengthen Japan's deterrence in the face of the current severe security circumstances amid the rise of China. Hundreds of people took to the streets in central Tokyo to protest the national security bills. The bills are designed to assist war rather than peace, they shouted, demanding the prime minister abide by the pacifist constitution. On Thursday morning, ahead of the cabinet meeting, Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito held a meeting and gave their final consent to the bills. The bills set criteria for the SDF to use force in Japan's exercise of the right to collective self-defense when countries with close ties with Japan are under armed attack and there is a subsequent danger that could threaten Japan's existence. The bills said the use of force is allowed only when there are no alternative means of protecting citizens and should be limited to the minimum necessary. The bill to revise the law on contingencies in areas surrounding Japan renames the law as that on contingencies with possible grave repercussions and removes geographical limits on the SDF's support for forces of the United States and other countries. The bill to revise the law for cooperation with U.N. peacekeeping operations eases rules on the SDF's use of weapons. The new permanent law, called the international peace assistance law, would remove geographical limits on SDF operations in noncombat areas, allowing Japanese troops to provide logistic support for not only U.S. forces, but also forces of other countries. The law would demand the Japanese government obtain prior parliamentary approval, with no exception, for sending SDF troops overseas. The overall legislation also provides for so-called gray-zone incidents that do not involve military attacks and the SDF's rescue of Japanese nationals abroad. END