Refer Report
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. AP Yonhap News
Regarding Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s approval of a draft constitutional amendment that includes “specifying the Self-Defense Forces in the Constitution” the previous day, local media outlets on the 3rd interpreted this as a move to solidify its support base and predicted that the possibility of the constitutional amendment being submitted to the Diet is slim.
On the previous day, the 2nd, the Liberal Democratic Party held a meeting of the Constitutional Revision Realization Headquarters at its Tokyo headquarters with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in attendance, and approved a draft of a list of constitutional revision issues, including specifying the Self-Defense Forces in the Constitution and introducing a state of emergency clause.
The core of this bill for resolving issues is to maintain Article 9, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Constitution and to create a new article to stipulate the Self-Defense Forces in the Constitution. Article 9, Paragraph 1 contains the permanent renunciation of war and the use of force, and Paragraph 2 contains the renunciation of the possession of military power such as the Army, Navy, and Air Force and the denial of the right to engage in war. As the criticism continued that the Self-Defense Forces were effectively no different from the military and thus violated the existing Constitution, they decided to simply include the Self-Defense Forces in the Constitution.
There is an assessment that the LDP is using the party presidential election at the end of this month as a springboard to raise the issue of constitutional revision nationwide. Constitutional revision to recognize the Self-Defense Forces is a long-cherished project of the LDP, and the LDP has stated since its founding that it would establish an “independent constitution.”
The Asahi Shimbun analyzed that the growing calls for constitutional revision among conservative party members and party members ahead of the LDP presidential election at the end of this month appeared to have influenced the full-scale movement for constitutional revision within the LDP. Most of the leading candidates for the next presidential candidate, including former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba, former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, Digital Minister Taro Kono, and former Minister of Economic Security Takayuki Kobayashi, are in favor of constitutional revision.
There is also an assessment that this is a move to secure a “domestic rabbit” before the general election. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said, “The discussion on the Self-Defense Forces name is also intended to solidify the support base (conservatives) in consideration of the general election to be held after the early dissolution of the House of Representatives.”
Prime Minister Kishida said in a meeting the day before, “I will make sure that the new prime minister can continue (the work on constitutional revision),” and “I want to consolidate the power of the Liberal Democratic Party to realize constitutional revision.” The far-right Sankei Shimbun agreed in an editorial that day, saying, “How about the next (Liberal Democratic Party) president appointing Prime Minister Kishida as the head of the headquarters for realizing constitutional revision?”
The Mainichi Shimbun predicted that the possibility of the resolution of the issues being realized is low because the opposition parties have different opinions. The constitutional amendment bill requires the approval of more than two-thirds of the members of both houses (the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors) to be proposed, and it can be passed only if it receives a majority approval in a national referendum. The Asahi pointed out that the LDP’s constitutional amendment movement “did not even present a specific plan on how to proceed with the procedure in order to gain a broad consensus.”
It is not the case that the entire party is looking in the same direction. A senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party pointed out that the current president, who is about to step down, appears to have decided the direction of the next president’s discussions in advance, and that “there may be presidential candidates who think this is an overstep of authority,” the Tokyo Shimbun reported.
The LDP left the establishment of civilian control regulations for the Self-Defense Forces as a subject for review. It is analyzed that this was done in consideration of the claims of the coalition Komeito. At a press conference on the 30th of last month, Komeito Secretary-General Keiichi Ishii stated, “The LDP cannot revise the Constitution alone,” and “How to persuade other parties and sort out (different opinions, etc.) is the task after the (LDP) presidential election.”
The bill to summarize the issues also includes a new emergency provision that defines large-scale disasters, armed attacks, and the spread of infectious diseases as “emergencies” and allows the cabinet to enact emergency ordinances with the same effect as laws without National Assembly approval.
Source: Korean