Japan Press Weekly

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2012 July 11 - 17 [POLITICS]

Stop PM from allowing Japan to use military force abroad: Shii

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on July 13 at a press conference criticized the Noda Cabinet for its intent to exercise the right to collective self-defense even though successive Liberal Democratic Party governments were hesitant to do so.

An expert subcommittee of the government council on national strategy and policy on July 6 submitted to Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko a report calling on the government to allow Japan to exercise the collective defense right.

Commenting on the report, Noda said, “I want to fully endorse the argument presented in the report in the government’s strategy to revitalize Japan.” In the Diet deliberations, he said, “I will conduct detailed discussions regarding the report within the government.”

Shii said, “If the government accepts the exercise of the collective self-defense right and incorporates such a policy in its revitalization strategy, Japan will take a big step forward toward allowing the use of military force jointly with the United States against other countries.”

He criticized, “The Noda Cabinet’s intention goes against the standard government explanation that Article 9 of the Constitution prohibits the use of collective defense right and would be in clear violation of the Constitution.”

Shii revealed that the Noda Cabinet plans to submit to the current Diet session a bill to revise the PKO Cooperation Law in order to ease restrictions on the Self-Defense Forces’ use of weapons.

“Following the closed-door agreement between the DPJ, the LDP, and the Komei Party, the prime minister apparently is rushing to give the green light on exercising the collective self-defense right and to change Japan to a nation willing and able to use force abroad. The JCP will work hard to stop this move by working together with public opposition,” said Shii.