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2 Testing time for Japan's US
ties By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan's Lower House of the Diet,
or Parliament, passed a controversial bill on
Tuesday that will allow the nation to resume its
refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support
of US-led anti-terrorism operations in and near
Afghanistan.
The bill's approval came only
two days before Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's
departure on Thursday for the US to meet with
President George W Bush on Friday. It will be his
first overseas
trip
since taking office in late September.
Fukuda is expected to express his firm
determination to resume Japan's refueling mission,
which was suspended on November 1 when a special
anti-terrorism law authorizing the mission expired
due to strong objections from opposition parties.
The US and other nations taking part in
the anti-terrorism operations have repeatedly
urged Japan to resume refueling US-led coalition
ships. The special anti-terrorism law was enacted
shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks in the US.
Fukuda's predecessor,
Shinzo Abe, abruptly announced his resignation,
citing the dire prospect of having the law
extended to keep Japanese naval ships deployed in
the Indian Ocean. Abe was admitted to hospital
with a serious stomach illness just a day later,
though.
To be sure, Tuesday's passage of
the new anti-terrorism bill will provide Fukuda
with powerful ammunition to convince Bush of his
firm resolve to resume the refueling mission as
soon as possible. But prospects remain dim for its
early resumption.
The new anti-terrorism
bill cleared the House of Representatives on
Tuesday on the strength of Fukuda's Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP)-led ruling coalition's
majority there. The opposition parties voted
against it or abstained. The bill was sent
immediately to the House of Councilors, the Upper
House of the bicameral Parliament, which is
controlled by the Democratic Party of Japan
(DPJ)-led opposition.
The ruling LDP-New
Komeito coalition lost control of the Upper House
in July elections, although it still retains more
than two-thirds of seats in the more powerful
Lower House. The next general election for that
chamber is due by September 2009 at the latest,
but it is very likely to come much earlier,
possibly early next year.
Uphill Diet
battle Under the constitution, the
government's new anti-terrorism bill can be sent
back to the Lower House for a second vote if the
Upper House votes it down or holds off on taking a
vote on it within 60 days. The bill would become
law if passed in the second vote with the support
of a two-thirds majority. The new anti-terrorism
law would be effective for one year.
The
DPJ remains adamantly opposed to the new
anti-terrorism bill. It insists that the US-led
operations in and around Afghanistan have no clear
United Nations mandate and says that Japanese
troops should be sent abroad only to participate
in UN-led peacekeeping operations.
In
September, the UN Security Council adopted a
resolution expressing gratitude for maritime
interdiction activities in the Indian Ocean, in
which Japanese naval ships took part.
Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said last
Thursday, "The longer the interruption, the
greater the possibility that Japan will be seen as
having a passive attitude toward the fight against
terrorism, and that would not be good." Ishiba
made the remarks n a joint press conference with
visiting US Defense Secretary Robert Gates after
their meeting.
The DPJ has also submitted
to the House of Councilors a bill to abolish a
special law enacted in 2003 that has allowed
Japanese troops to be dispatched to Iraq on a
reconstruction and humanitarian mission.
The House of Councilors' foreign and
defense affairs committee, where intensive
deliberations on the new anti-terrorism bill are
to be held, is now chaired by a DPJ lawmaker. The
DPJ has said the committee will deliberate the
party-sponsored bill to abolish the special law
for Iraq first.
The DPJ-led opposition
camp is also poised to continue to grill the
government over a series of scandals involving the
Defense Ministry.
The opposition parties
are still unsatisfied with the conclusion by the
governments of both Japan and the US that there
was no diversion of fuel provided by Japanese
vessels to US warships in the Indian Ocean for the
Iraq war.
Meanwhile, former administrative
vice defense minister Takemasa Moriya is to give
sworn testimony at the House of Councilors'
foreign and defense affairs committee on Thursday
over a collusion scandal involving himself and
arrested defense equipment trader Motonobu
Miyazaki.
Fukuda predicted an uphill
battle for the new anti-terrorism bill in the
Upper House. "We've come a long way ... but there
is also a long way ahead. We must try our best,"
he said on Monday night. Last Friday, the
current extraordinary Diet session, which was
originally scheduled to close last Saturday, was
extended by 35 days until December15. The
government and ruling coalition extended the
session in an effort to win the Diet enactment of
the new anti-terrorism bill.
Legislative
business has been virtually stalled in the divided
Diet. Only one relatively non-contentious law -
the revised Natural Disaster Victims Relief Law -
was enacted during the originally set 62-day
period of the current Diet session.
If the
DPJ sticks to its guns over the government's new
anti-terrorism bill and no vote is taken on it
before the rescheduled end of the session, the
government and the ruling coalition are poised to
extend the session again. Under the Diet law, the
extraordinary session can be extended twice.
On November 6, meanwhile, the DPJ unveiled
the outline of its counterproposal to the
government's new anti-terrorism bill. But critics
say it will not work and that many questions
remain unanswered.
The outline stipulates
that the nation would dispatch Self-Defense Forces
and civilian personnel to Afghanistan to
participate in provincial reconstruction team
activities linked with the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) in four areas, including
food production, medical services and
transportation.
DPJ president Ichiro Ozawa
has called for Japan to participate in the ISAF.
But the outline does not call for participation in
ISAF activities, saying the activities have yet to
prove effective.
As for the Maritime
Self-Defense Force's activities in the Indian
Ocean, the document says only that the largest
opposition party will consider whether to take
part only if they are considered to be activities
based on a UN resolution.
It remains to be
seen, however, if the DPJ will draw up and submit
to the Diet a bill incorporating these elements of
the counterproposal. The DPJ is widely believed to
have unveiled the outline to avoid criticism that
it is an irresponsible opposition party that
opposes all government bills without coming up
with any alternative proposals.
Golden
era over It may be just like an
award-winning barracks ballad duo finding it
increasingly difficult these days to sing some
duets in perfect harmony.
It was only
until a little over a year ago that relations
between Japan and the US - close allies since the
end of World War II - were humming along, with
foreign-policy makers on both sides of
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