Diet tense on contingency bills

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party struck a deal on May 13 on a set of bills that would allow Japan's Self-Defense Forces to take part in U.S. wars outside of Japan and force the Japanese people to cooperate with the U.S. forces in such wars in the name of "national emergencies."

On May 8, as the ruling parties and the Democratic Party were trying to iron out differences over the contingency bills now being discussed in parliament, trade unions, peace organizations, women's organizations, and many other democratic organizations assembled in Tokyo to reaffirm their total rejection of the contingency legislation.

The assembly was called by the Liaison Center for the Movement to Stop Contingency Legislation to quickly increase opposition to the wartime legislation.

Fudesaka Hideyo, Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission chair, said that the Democratic Party's deal with the ruling parties for making some changes in the text of the bills will not remove the dangerous character of the contingency legislation.

Law professor's warning

In a hearing held by the House of Representatives Special Committee on the Contingency Legislation, Niikura Osamu, professor at Aoyama Gakuin University, stated that the contingency bills, if enacted, will be invoked in the event of a U.S. preemptive attack in Asia and that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces will be allowed to use force outside of Japan. (end)