Japan's Cabinet OKs Emergency Bills, to Submit to Diet on Wed.

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 17, 2002

Japan's Cabinet OKs Emergency Bills, to Submit to Diet on Wed.

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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet Tuesday endorsed a set of three bills to govern Japan's response to a foreign military attack ahead of their submission to the Diet on Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.

The move to enact the bills, aimed at giving the prime minister and the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) more power to deal with such an attack, may prompt public concern about a pro-military stance by the government despite the war-renouncing Constitution.

The move will mark the first step by the government to compile what it calls ''emergency legislation on war contingencies,'' which will require several years for thorough debates, including constitutional ones.

The three bills do not cover measures to counter terrorism or incidents involving the activities of alleged spy boats in and near Japanese waters, so bills involving such issues are expected to follow the three, which parliament is expected to take up later this month.

Opponents of the bills say that the government is stepping up pressure on the Japanese people to be prepared for war too hastily or that the bills lack provisions ensuring evacuated people's safety in such emergencies.

Such opponents include Hiromu Nonaka, a former secretary general of Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The government regards the set of bills as a main point on the agenda in the latter half of the parliamentary sessions, which started Jan. 21 and are scheduled to run through June 19.

The set of three bills stipulates the government will establish a task force to deal with the situation after a foreign military attack or an imminent threat of one.

The bills would give the prime minister power to order local governments to implement measures to counter such attacks or to order such measures on behalf of them.

According to the government, the bills are aimed at easing restrictions on the SDF's use of weapons in the event of a military emergency.

Private companies which disobey government orders regarding the control of food and provisions in an emergency would be subject to punishment under the bills.

The bills also allow the Defense Agency director general to order the SDF to build defense facilities in areas where the agency chief sees the need for such preparations or deployment of SDF personnel.

One of the three bills is for a new law specifying measures to deal with armed attacks, and the two others would revise the SDF Law and the law on the establishment of the security council.

Opponents of the bills say the new legislation would broaden the authority of the prime minister and the SDF while restricting people's rights in such emergencies.

Legislation for military emergencies began to be studied in 1977 under the administration of then Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda.

Article 9 of the Constitution stipulates, ''Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.''

Proponents of the bills cite concern about terrorism or unexpected incidents in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, as well as the activities of alleged spy boats in or near Japanese waters, as reasons for pushing the proposed legislation.

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