Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged yesterday to push forward with his plans to bolster Japan’s defense in the face of what he said was an increasingly insecure environment.
In a speech opening a new session of the Diet, Abe said he will establish a security council within his office that will be a diplomatic and defense command center, a move lawmakers are expected to approve during the 53-day session.
The ruling party also hopes to pass a companion bill protecting state secrets, legislation supporters say is necessary as Japan seeks greater cooperation with others in international security.
Longer term, Abe wants to allow Japanese troops to fight when its allies are attacked — a reversal from the stance of previous governments — by reinterpreting the war-renouncing Article 9 of Japan’s pacifist constitution.
“As global inter-dependency deepens, Japan can no longer protect its own peace without actively fulfilling its responsibility to global peace and stability,” Abe said in the speech.
He said Japan should be proud to have been a pacifist state since the end of World War II, but it is time to be realistic.
“We must act now in order to protect peace into the future,” he said.
Critics say the state-secrets legislation may infringe on the constitutional right to know and free press, and could further limit access to public information, for which Japan is already criticized.
Japan’s parliament is returning from a recess that followed a sweeping upper house election victory by Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party in July.
It gave his coalition bloc the majority in both houses, lowering hurdles for his government to pass key legislation. However, some of the security bills may take time to pass as the party needs support from its pacifist-leaning coalition partner, New Komeito.
Abe also pledged to continue pushing reforms and economic measures to pull Japan out of its long period of deflation, while keeping control of government finances. Among them are measures aimed to offset the impact of a consumption tax increase in April to 8 percent from the current 5 percent.
Abe said regaining economic strength would help disaster reconstruction, especially in radiation-hit Fukushima Prefecture, and promised to boost agricultural and fisheries exports.
He said the government is doing its utmost to contain the radioactive water leaks from the wrecked nuclear plant and gave reassurances of the safety of produce from the area.
South Korea has banned fish imports from Japan’s northeastern coast, citing public worry and insufficient information from Tokyo. Japan calls the ban unscientific.
“I eat Fukushima rice at the prime minister’s office every day. It’s delicious,” Abe said, urging consumers to do the same and “not to be confused by rumors.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was