TOKYO , July 15 (UPI) -- A bill allowing more liberal deployment of Japanese military forces was approved Wednesday by a committee of Japan's Parliament.
If it is approved by the Japanese parliament, the Diet, in an initial vote scheduled for Thursday, it could spell the end of 70 years of Japan's Self Defense Forces (SDF) policy, described in the country's constitution, of pacifism. The proposed measure is widely unpopular in Japan, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has attempted to promote it as means of supporting allies, notably the United States, in foreign conflicts.
Approval of the bill in the Diet's two houses would allow the SDF to engage in missions of "collective defense" with allies, even those without a direct threat to Japan. It is essentially an evasion of the constitutional guarantee Japan will never use its military for purposes of invasion of another country, a holdover from World War II.
The measure has caused confusion and anger in the Japanese populace, 80 percent of who say the government has not adequately explained its implications. A recent poll by the newspaper Asahi Shimbun indicates 26 percent of respondents support Abe's plan, while 56 percent oppose it. The legislation was approved for Thursday's vote as thousands protested it in Tokyo Wednesday.
The bill is seen by some as a power grab by the conservative and hawkish Abe and a suggestion he believes his office should not be bound by the rules of the constitution.
Abe claimed Wednesday the bill is misunderstood, and said he would work harder to better explain it.
