Proposed secrecy act brings press freedom fears in Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is planning a state secrets act that critics say could curtail public access to information on a wide range of issues, including tensions with China and the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The new law would dramatically expand the definition of official secrets and journalists convicted under it could be jailed for up to five years.

It comes amid a worldwide debate over government secrecy in the wake of the Edward Snowden affair, which on Thursday saw the US ambassador to Germany summoned after claims Washington was spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Japan's harsh state secrecy regime before and during the second world war has long made such legislation taboo, but the new law looks certain to be enacted since Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led bloc has a big majority in both houses of parliament and the opposition has been in disarray since he came to power last in December.

Critics see parallels between the new law and Abe's drive to revise Japan's US-drafted, post-war constitution to stress citizen's duties over civil rights, part of a conservative agenda that includes a stronger military and recasting Japan's wartime history with a less apologetic tone.

"There is a demand by the established political forces for greater control over the people," said Lawrence Repeta, a law professor at Meiji University. "This fits with the notion that the state should have broad authority to act in secret."