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Kay Bradley

After a Televised Brawl, Japanese Lawmakers Vote to Allow Military to Fight Overseas | ... - 0 views

  • September 18, 2015 |
  • hey represented an effort, backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to reinterpret Japan's constitution in order to free up the military to act in collective self-defense and the defense of Japan's allies.
  • opponents of the proposed national security bills piling on top of one another in an effort to physically block the Upper House special committee chairman, Yoshitada Konoike, from advancing the legislation.
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  • Overnight and this morning, opposition parties moved forward with censure motions for Abe in the Upper House and no-confidence motions in the Lower House, which passed the proposed national security legislation in July.
  • Tens of thousands of Japanese citizens protested during daily rallies over the past weeks while the legislation was considered; 13 people were arrested outside of the Diet in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Kay Bradley

Japan could change pacifist constitution after Shinzo Abe victory | World news | The Gu... - 0 views

  • The most controversial move would be a revision of article 9 to allow Japan’s self-defence forces to act more like a conventional army.
  • Rewriting the constitution, imposed by the US occupation authorities after the second world war, has been the ideological driving force behind Abe and other conservatives who believe it unfairly restricts Japan’s ability to respond to new threats such as international terrorism, an increasingly assertive China and a nuclear-armed North Korea.
  • However, Abe risks losing the political capital he has built over the past three and a half years if he is seen to be neglecting the economy in favour of constitutional reform.
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  • Xinhua, China’s official news agency, described Sunday’s election result as a threat to regional stability, a
  • “With Japan’s pacifist constitution at serious stake and Abe’s power expanding, it is alarming both for Japan’s Asian neighbours, as well as for Japan itself, as Japan’s militarisation will serve to benefit neither side,” Xinhua said in a commentary.
  • An exit poll conducted by the Asahi on Sunday showed that 49% of voters supported constitutional revision, with 44% opposed
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