Japan Press Weekly

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2017 October 11 - 17 [POLITICS]

Abe in canvassing speeches keeps silent about his ardent desire to amend Article 9

“Article 9 has been protecting our safety. Why is it necessary to change it? This question was tossed from the crowd to Prime Minister Abe Shinzo during his stump speech in Niigata City on October 12.

Abe momentarily was at a lost for words, but LDP campaigners soon shouted, “Don’t disrupt!” so that the voice was drowned out. Abe then went on to say, “We must follow the law,” reducing the inquiry from the audience as an “obstruction of election campaign”. In the end, he said nothing about his policy of changing Article 9.

When the election campaign officially started on October 10, Abe in Fukushima City said, “The LDP will honestly speak to voters about our policies.” However, he has not mentioned even a single word in his street speeches about Article 9 revision despite his intent to bring amendments to the Constitution into shape after the election.

PM Abe states that he will work to insert the legitimacy of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces in Article 9 while leaving the article’s pacifist Paragraph 1 and 2 and will work to introduce a new constitution in 2020. The LDP has also incorporated Article 9 revision into the LDP election platform.

Abe claims that there will be no substantial change because the article’s Paragraph 2 will remain. However, to constitutionalize the current SDF will lead to recognizing the controversial war laws as constitutional and will open the door for Japanese troops to use armed force abroad without restriction.

Past related articles:
> JCP Koike: PM Abe has no legal right to talk about constitutional revision [June 27, 2017]
> Japan’s ultrarightist group supports SDF legitimation in Article 9 [May 28, 2017]
> Abe’s proposal on Article 9 aimed at hampering citizens’ collaboration [May 14, 2017]
> JCP Koike denounces Abe’s call for legitimizing SDF [May 5, 2017]