Japan’s Shinzo Abe says he’s missed goal to amend pacifist constitution by 2020
- Abe planned to amend four elements of the constitution to give more power to the cabinet in an emergency, and to describe the Self-Defence forces as the nation’s military
- But he is unlikely to achieve that and the opposition has criticised him for using the coronavirus crisis to build momentum for his goal
The prime minister and some other conservative lawmakers had previously called for active debate on such a clause, which critics warned could restrict people’s rights.
Opinion polls however have shown that a majority of Japanese find no need to accelerate discussions on whether to revise the constitution.
Yukio Edano, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, rejected the necessity of an emergency clause in combating the pandemic.
Japan’s Abe wins election but suffers constitutional reform setback
“It is absolutely not true that necessary measures cannot be implemented under the rule of the current constitution,” Edano said in a video shared on the party’s website.
He said Japan’s basic law on disaster management restricted private rights during the time of emergency and allowed authorities to implement essential measures.
“Suddenly, he was contemplating pushing through these additional powers, but he was very quickly halted by the opposition parties on the grounds that the government did not need emergency powers and that now was not the right time,” Murakami said.
“There are already laws in place that give the government a lot of power in this sort of situation and a lot of people were not convinced that they needed more,” she added.
I think Abe will be pragmatic enough to realise that this alone will not be his legacy and he will feel that he has laid the groundwork for someone who comes after him to bring about these changes.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving premier since he returned to office in 2012, has long argued for a revision to the war-renouncing Article 9, to add an explicit reference to the Self-Defence Forces describing them as the nation’s legitimate military. The current article prohibits Japan from possessing military forces and other “war potential”.
His government in 2014 reinterpreted the constitution to allow troops to fight abroad.
Abe’s term ends in September 2021 and there appears to be little appetite in the party or country for him to stay on beyond that date, analysts said, adding it was unlikely he would get the support of two-thirds of the Diet, Japan’s Parliament, to force a referendum to decide on revisions to the constitution, before he stepped down.
Nagy suggested though that Abe had potentially laid the foundations for a future Japanese leader to achieve an amendment.
“I think Abe will be pragmatic enough to realise that this alone will not be his legacy and he will feel that he has laid the groundwork for someone who comes after him to bring about these changes,” he said.
He will console himself, Nagy said, with the thought that Japan has become a far more influential voice in global and regional debates since the Trump administration “fractured the global order”.
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