Japan's parliament yesterday laid the groundwork for amending the pacifist Constitution, handing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a needed political victory and boosting his drive to give the military a larger international role.
The largely ceremonial upper house approved legislation passed last month by the ruling party-controlled lower house. Japan's 1947 Constitution, drafted by US occupation officials in the aftermath of World War II, has never been amended.
Abe is urging strengthening military cooperation with the US and a more prominent Japanese role in peacekeeping, but moves to overhaul the Constitution have drawn fire from critics concerned about resurgent militarism.
During yesterday's vote, about 500 protesters -- including Buddhist monks and students -- rallied outside parliament, accusing Abe of aiming to change the Constitution to allow Japan to go to war.
Referendum
Reflecting those concerns, the government stressed that there were many more steps to go before a national referendum could take place on changing the charter. Yesterday's legislation bans further parliamentary votes on the issue for three years.
"Now that we have taken a step forward to lay out the procedures, it's important to further deepen public discussion before implementation," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said shortly before the vote.
The legislation passed yesterday allows the parliament to work on drafts of amendments over the next three years. At the end of that period, two-thirds support in parliament and a majority in a national referendum would be needed to change the charter.
Constitutional revision has been a central plank in Abe's program since taking office last year. He has also enacted measures to teach patriotism in the classrooms and upgrade the Defense Agency to a full ministry for the first time since World War II.
The Constitution bans the use of military force as a means of settling international disputes, and special legislation is currently needed for Japanese soldiers to participate in peacekeeping and other missions abroad.
Pacifist clause
Many Japanese credit the charter's pacifist clause -- Article 9 -- with keeping the country out of war since 1945, preventing a return of militarism and allowing Japan to focus on becoming wealthy.
Abe's party has promoted watering down the clause to allow more peacekeeping missions and perhaps allow Japanese troops to aid an ally such as the US.
The opposition said the guidelines passed yesterday were flawed because they did not address the issue of minimum voter turnout in a national referendum.
"Japanese constitutionalism is now facing a serious threat, and the threat arises from Prime Minister Abe's lack of understanding and lack of principles," said Kiyoshige Maekawa of the opposition Democratic Party.
The passage was a key political victory for Abe, who has suffered from poor support ratings in recent months. His ruling Liberal Democratic Party faces crucial upper house elections in July, and some say his government's fate will depend on a decent showing in the ballot.
Abe, who has pushed for a more assertive Japanese foreign and defense policies, has argued that constitutional revision is needed to allow Japan to take a wider responsibility in maintaining global peace and security.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS