Japan creates new security body as China's assertiveness grows
New body to centralise decision-making approved overwhelmingly as Tokyo faces increasingly aggressive moves by China
On paper, Japan's newly instituted version of the US National Security Council will be able to act swiftly, improve co-ordination between ministries and the military and enhance national security policy.
Some Japanese sceptics see the entire project as mostly a show of resolve on the part of the prime minister. The Diet passed legislation to create the council on Wednesday and it could be operational as early as next week.
It would be much easier for Prime Minister Abe to expand Japan’s ADIZ
Under the terms of the new law, the prime minister, chief cabinet secretary and the foreign and defence ministers will meet two times per month to decide on diplomatic and national security policy.
The council will have a staff of around 60, including 10 military experts from the Self-Defence Forces, and will come under the Cabinet Secretariat, which will oversee co-ordination among the relevant ministries and government agencies.
With Japan's security concerns focused on the challenges posed by an aggressively expansionist China, most recently demonstrated by Beijing's announcement of an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea, the legislation met few obstacles in the Diet.
"It could be much easier for (Prime Minister Shinzo) Abe to expand Japan's ADIZ if he decides this would be one of the things the council would deal with," said Jiang Lifeng, a Beijing-based Japan scholar.
The legislation had 213 votes in favour and just 18 opponents. Prominent among the parties that voted against the bill were the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party.