BEIJING, Sept. 18-Japan's controversial security bills that the ruling bloc, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is going all out to push through in the upper house of the parliament on Friday will be a victory for just a few people but a seed of disaster for millions more.
Attempting to shoot their last bolt to have the bills passed the parliament, the few hundred lawmakers supportive of the bills hardly give any thought to the voices of common Japanese citizens, nor the concerns of neighboring countries that were victims of Japan's wartime atrocities.
In the last few weeks since July 16, Japan has witnessed massive gatherings of demonstrators protesting the passage of the bills in the lower house. The prospect of their loved ones sent to fight wars overseas for another country's sake even prompted those who are normally indifferent to political affairs to take to the street.
Deep-running concern over the bills among the Japanese public also dampened popularity of the Abe administration. Various polls this week showed that Abe's rating falls to an all-time low since he took office.
Japanese lawmakers are the foremost witnesses of citizens' roaring anger toward the bills since every time they go into the Diet building, they could easily bump into protestors holding anti-war signs nearby.
Yet it seems such scenes have made no difference for MPs supportive of the controversial bills, or probably they are just too busy relishing an almost certain victory and have no energy left to care about public opinions.
They may have good reasons to take pride in staging a feat to"unbind Japan from the restraints" of the pacifist constitution, but the rosy pictures they paint could hardly dispel domestic qualms that Japan could be dragged into an unwanted war under the new policy.
It is also worth noting that Japan partially owes its rapid development and economic prosperity in the last 70 years to its promise of peace after its defeat in World War II. Any deviation from the peaceful path may also cost the country heavily in economic terms.
Internationally, the unpopular move risks further fray already strained ties with neighbors, and could potentially wreck havoc on regional stability.
Enactment of the security bills would also be a grave mockery of the post-WWII world order, especially in a year when the international community is marking the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII -- the bloodiest war in human history.
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