A bill raised by the Japanese government to upgrade the Defense
Agency into a ministry passed the Lower House Thursday afternoon
backed by the majority enjoyed by the ruling coalition of the
Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party, as well as the
main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
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The bill, the first of its kind to be introduced by the government,
was approved at a lower house plenary session after clearing the
Security Committee earlier in the day.
Despite opposition from the Social Democratic Party and the
Japanese Communist Party, the proposed legislature should pass the
Upper House during the current Diet session ending Dec.15, Kyodo
News said.
After the agency's upgrade, it will be headed by a "Defense
Minister," instead of a current director general, a role held by a
state minister. The upgraded authority of the administrative chief
will include being able to call a Cabinet meeting and requesting
budgets directly from the Finance Ministry.
The agency upgrade, hailed as a "historic process" by some
defense agency officials, was described as necessary and natural by
then Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, who said it would enable
the prospective ministry to deal with all kinds of situations more
appropriately.
Another bill proposes revising a set of laws to upgrade
peacekeeping, disaster relief and other international cooperation
operations into the Self-Defense Forces' essential duties from
their current subordinate positions will also clear the lower
house, Kyodo said.
The Defense Agency, established in 1954, has been severely
restricted within Japan's war-renouncing pacifist Constitution. Its
main task now is national security and internal disaster relief. As
an affiliate of the Cabinet Office, the agency is under the direct
control of the prime minister.
(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2006)
