Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addressed the country on Friday (January 22) from the parliament building, saying he expected the country to take on more international leadership in the coming year.
Abe pointed out that Japan should take on a stronger role especially as it is to host a G7 gathering later in the year.
“There is no end in the pursuit of the international community for a better future and a better world. In such an environment, Japan will firmly take a leadership role,” Abe said.
He also brought up one of his biggest topics over the last year, that of activites of Japan’s Self Defence Force (SDF).
Abe looked to defend his changes in the law regarding the SDF by pointing out that they have been a positive force and not one to go to war with.
Japan’s parliament voted into law in September a defense policy shift that could let troops fight overseas for the first time since 1945, a milestone in Abe’s push to loosen the limits of the pacifist constitution on the military.
Abe says the shift, the biggest change in Japan’s defense policy since the creation of its post-war military in 1954, is vital to meet new challenges such as from a rising China.
But the legislation has triggered massive protests from ordinary citizens and Japan’s neighbours who say it violates the pacifist constitution and could ensnare Japan in U.S.-led conflicts after 70 years of post-war peace. .
“The Self Defence Force with its mission to contribute proactively to peace will make more effort for world peace. (Japan’s) security-related bills are supported by the world and are highly regarded. That these are war bills was an accusation that has proven to be absolutely untrue,” Abe said.
On all of these issues, Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner, the Komeito party, already command a two-thirds majority in the lower house, but only hold a simple majority in the upper chamber. (Reuters)