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Japan's opposition JCP leader slashes Abe for misleading people in security legislation debate

Xinhua, June 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Chief of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Kazuo Shii criticized Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government for its trick to mislead people in security related legislation debate, saying the move may lead Japan into another war.

The chairman of the Japan's third largest opposition party said at a press conference in the Foreign Correspondents Center of Japan that the concepts government use to explain why Japan's Self Defense Forces (SDF) could be deployed overseas go against international norms.

"It is military common sense to know that logistic support is an indispensable and unified part of combat, however the prime minister argued that Japan will only support rear areas and never go to the front combat zone," Shii said. "That kind of concept made by the government is so unique and weird that it even cannot be translated appropriately into English."

The 60-year-old Shii pointed out that the Abe government intends to separate exercise of force from use of weapon, which is a word game to mislead people.

The biggest and only reason that Abe government changed the constitution interpretation last July to lift the ban on Japan's collective self-defense right is that "Japan faces huge transformation in the security environment."

Talking about that, Shii mentioned he had asked Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida for details and asked him to give an example of "a country which has seen huge security environment change as a result of attack on the other country."

However, the foreign minister could not even give one example.

Shii further stressed that Abe's intention to push forward those poignant "war bills" goes against the tie with past history and the move will lead Japan into another war, as according to the bills Japan is to exercise the right of collective self-defense, or militarily aiding a friendly country under attack even though that friendly country itself is a pre-emptive aggressor.

Abe has reiterated that the ruling coalition will seek the passage of the unconstitutional bills within the current Diet session which will end on Sept. 24.

However, both lawmakers and the public have shown strong oppositions to those bills. About 81.4 percent of the population here believe the government's explanations about the security- related bills are "not sufficient," while only 14.2 percent feel the opposite. Endi