Defense moves deflate support for Abe
Print Edition
Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet has fallen to the lowest level since he took office in 2012, to just over 40 percent, with nearly two-thirds of voters opposed to his muscular defense policy that would end a self-imposed ban on the military fighting overseas, a weekend media survey showed.
The survey by Nippon Television Network coincided with weekend rallies protesting the legislation, which would allow Japan to exercise its right of collective self-defense, or militarily aiding a friendly country under attack.
Abe’s cabinet adopted a resolution last July reinterpreting the pacifist constitution to allow the dramatic shift in security policy. In April, Abe told the United States Congress that the changes, already reflected in new US-Japan defense cooperation guidelines, would be enacted this summer.
But the outlook for passage in the current session of parliament, set to end next week but which may be extended until early August, has been clouded by growing criticism that the legislation violates the pacifist constitution, drafted by US officials after World War II.
“I think the government should retract the bills because the core element of the bills — the use of the right of collective self-defense — is manifestly unconstitutional,” Yasuo Hasebe, a law professor at Waseda University, said.
Abe’s support slipped to 41.1 percent from 43.5 percent in the Nippon Television survey, which also showed 62.5 percent were opposed to the exercise of collective self-defense and 63.7 percent were against the enactment of the legislation in the current session of parliament.
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