Japan set to pass security bills despite widespread anger

PM Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition wants to vote controversial bills into law after days of heated debate

TOKYO: Japan is expected to pass security bills on Friday that would allow troops to fight on foreign soil for the first time since World War II, despite fierce criticism it will reshape the proudly pacifist nation.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition wants to vote the controversial bills into law after days of heated debate that at times descended into scuffles, tears and tantrums.

Hundreds gathered in front of parliament in Tokyo Friday in a last-ditch rally against the laws, which could see the biggest shift in Japan's defence policy for half a century.

Tens of thousands of people, young and old, have taken to the streets for weeks in almost daily rallies, in a show of public anger on a scale rarely seen in Japan.

"The bills are against the constitution. It's a legislation that doesn't respect people's lives," said 70-year-old Hozumi Wada, who said he was protesting for the first time since he was a student.

"I wanted to do everything I can," he said, holding up a placard that read: "No war."

Nationalist Abe wants what he calls a normalisation of Japan's military posture, which has been restricted to narrowly defined self-defence and aid missions by a pacifist constitution imposed by the US after World War II.

He and his backers say the changes are necessary because of threats from an increasingly belligerent China and unstable North Korea.

Opponents argue the new laws — which would allow the tightly restricted military to fight in defence of allies — go against the national psyche and could see the country dragged into American wars in far-flung parts of the globe.

Tempers flared in Japan's parliament on Thursday, where chaos broke out as opposition politicians physically tried to block a committee approving the bills.

In scenes closer to a rugby match than the usually sedate parliament, lawmakers at one point jumped on each other in a huge scrum to prevent the vote.

Although they failed, opposition members continued their delaying tactics on Friday in a bid to push approval of the bills back until after a long weekend.

One lawmaker dressed in black and carried Buddhist beads in a mock funeral procession as he cast a vote in support of an upper house censure motion against Abe.

The bill is still expected to pass on Friday as the ruling coalition holds a majority in both houses of parliament.

Abe has faced fierce criticism for both the laws themselves and the way he has driven them though, despite public opposition.

There are growing signs this is taking a political toll — opinion polls show the vast majority of Japanese are against the changes, and Abe's once sky-high approval rating is dropping.

Unable to muster support to amend clauses enshrining pacifism, Abe opted instead to re-interpret the document for the purpose of his bills, ignoring warnings from scholars and lawyers that they are unconstitutional.

Opponents, including a Nobel-Prize winner, popular musicians and other prominent figures, say the changes could fundamentally alter Japan.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the wrangling should end, blaming the opposition for wrongly labelling the legislation "war bills".

"We have spent enough time and had enough debate," he told reporters on Friday.

Washington has backed the changes, but regional rivals China and South Korea have expressed concern at any expansion of Japanese military might.

Security experts say the bills will force a re-evaluation of Japan's place on the world stage.

"The bills are a psychological message to the world that an era in which Japan should not be involved in conflicts because of its exclusively defence-oriented policy is over," said Hideshi Takesada, a professor at Takushoku University in Tokyo.