Lawmakers push for overseas SDF dispatch and constitutional revision

Lawmakers representing "national defense"-related special interests used a Tokyo meeting to make calls for the Self-Defense Forces to be deployed abroad and for the Constitution to be revised.

The Japan-U.S. Defense Strategy Council meeting was held from November 20-22 at the Constitutional Museum attended by Dietmembers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, and a former U.S. defense secretary and arms industry representatives.

In the keynote speech, Nukaga Fukushiro, LDP Policy Research Council chair, stressed the need to lift the constitutional ban on the use of the right of collective self-defense on the grounds that it hampers Japan from fulfilling its international responsibility.

Former Defense Agency chiefs in agreement

Nukaga, a former Defense Agency director general, also complained about the present SDF Law placing overseas missions of the SDF as of secondary importance.

Kawara Tsutomu, a former Defense Agency director general, emphasized that the Defense Agency should be promoted to a Defense Ministry next year to be followed by lifting the ban on the right of collective self-defense.

DPJ lawmaker pledges more efforts

Maehara Seiji of the Democratic Party of Japan in a panel discussion presented his personal opinion, calling for more Japan-U.S. cooperation in missile defense as well as sea-lane defense. He insisted on a "breakthrough" on the constitutional issues, saying that the Constitution must be rewritten so that the Japan may act in accordance with the right of self-defense and rules to cope with emergencies. Maehara, who heads the DPJ defense policy board, said he would persuade the party to accept what he advocates.

Ex-U.S. defense secretary urges more efforts

While pretending to avoid making direct recommendations, former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen in a speech called for permanent legislation allowing the SDF to be deployed overseas at any time, adding that he appreciated Japan's domestic efforts to have the law enacted to send the SDF to Iraq.

For larger defense budget

Defense Agency Director General Ishiba Shigeru stated that Japan should place greater emphasis on the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty than on the United Nations.

Kyuma Akio, LDP acting secretary-general and former defense chief, called for Japan's Three Principles on the Prohibition of Arms Exports to be reviewed, stressing the need to increase the government's payments to munitions industries. (end)