Oppositions submit bills to counter Abe's contentious war legislation package

The opposition Japan Innovation Party and the Democratic Party of Japan both submitted bills to parliament Wednesday to counter Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-led coalition's contentious security legislation, which is set to be put to the vote in the lower house next week.

Abe's security legislation package has drawn flak from opposition parties, constitutional scholars, the public and the international community for being unconstitutional, yet still being forced through an LDP-controled bicameral parliament, where once enacted into law will grant Japan's Self Defense-Forces (SDF) the right to proactively take part in missions in active theaters without geographical limitations.

The Japan Innovation Party, for its part, sees its counterproposal as expanding the scope of Japan's Self-Defense Forces existing right to exercise "individual self-defense" so as to be capable of dealing with scenarios the government decides requires the SDF to exercise the right to collective self-defense.

As for supporting the U.S., the Japan Innovation Party's proposal is that this should only happen if an attack on the U.S. would lead to an attack on Japan.

The two parties have also presented alternatives for the government's current plans for the SDF responses to so-called " gray zone" situations, which see sovereignty impinged but not to the point of armed attacks against Japan or its allies.

Sources close to the matter said the bill would make for further integration between the Coast Guard and the Maritime Self- Defense Force.

Japan Innovation Party leader Yorihisa Matsuno in talks with Katsuya Okada, head of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan on Wednesday, both agreed that they would work together to prevent the government bills from being voted on in the lower house next week.

To this end, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Japan's top government spokesperson, said he welcomed the opposition's counterproposals and believed that they would pave the way for a deeper debate and lead to further constructive discussions.

The ruling bloc has come under fire for trying to ram its security legislation through parliament, with the opposition camp, the public and scholars who have found the bills to be unconstitutional, all calling for the dire need for more parliamentary debate, before any decisions are made or votes cast on what could possibly be the greatest shift in Japan's post-war defense policy.

However, despite the current delay, Abe's ruling camp is eyeing passing the war bills though the upper house of parliament and enacting them into law by the end of the now extended Diet session on Sept. 27. Endi