Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scored a victory in his drive
to rewrite Japan's pacifist constitution and ease its limits on
military action overseas when parliament yesterday enacted a law
outlining steps for a referendum on revising the post-World War II
charter.
Abe, 52, Japan's first prime minister born after the war, has
made revising the 1947 constitution a key element in his efforts to
boost Japan's global role, limited for decades by the
constitution's pacifist Article 9.
Drafted by US occupation authorities in February 1947, the
constitution has never been altered and procedures for a referendum
had not been specified.
Under the referendum law, approved by the upper house yesterday,
no vote on revising the constitution would be held for at least
three years, but its enactment will increase momentum for the
ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) push to state clearly in
the charter Japan's right to maintain a military.
"The law will be implemented three years hence, and until then,
it is important to debate broadly and deeply in a calm
environment," Abe said.
The passage of the law does not mean that Abe will have a smooth
sailing, Jin Xide, a researcher at the Institute of Japanese
Studies affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told
China Daily.
"For Abe's ambition to revise the constitution, it is the first
concrete step; it is a breakthrough," he said. "But it cannot
guarantee revision."
Tokyo has already taken military steps despite the current
constitutional restrictions.
It dispatched troops on a humanitarian mission to Iraq in
2004-06, the first time since World War II that Japanese soldiers
have entered a combat zone. Tokyo also offers logistical assistance
to US-led troops in Afghanistan.
Tokyo has airlifted UN and coalition personnel and supplies into
Baghdad and other Iraqi cities from nearby Kuwait in support of the
US-led war in Iraq. The mission, under way since early last year,
is set to end July 31, and parliament is currently debating whether
to extend it.
During yesterday's vote, about 500 protestors -- including
Buddhist monks and students -- rallied outside parliament, accusing
Abe of aiming to change the constitution to allow Japan to go to
war.
Changing Article 9 requires approval by two-thirds of the
members of both houses of parliament as well as half the voters in
a national referendum.
Jin noted that the enactment came at a time when the LDP enjoys
an absolute majority in both houses of parliament.
"That is why the law was passed in such a hurry because the
ruling party was afraid of losing this opportunity."
The biggest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan,
does not oppose revising the constitution but differs with the LDP
on how it should be altered; the smaller opposition Social
Democratic and Communist parties oppose any changes at all of the
constitution.
"If a majority of the people say 'No' to the sort of society
those who want to revise the constitution are trying to create, the
constitution cannot be changed," Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii
told reporters. "The real battle begins now."
"Japanese constitutionalism is now facing a serious threat, and
the threat arises from Abe's lack of understanding and lack of
principles," said Kiyoshige Maekawa from the Democratic Party of
Japan.
Japan's closest security ally, the United States, has made clear
it would welcome revision of Article 9, but Japanese voters remain
cautious.
A survey published earlier this month by the liberal Asahi
newspaper showed that while 58 percent of respondents favored some
changes to the constitution, 49 percent opposed changing Article 9
against 33 percent who backed revising it.
(China Daily May 15, 2007)
