Abe Defends His Call for Diet Debate on Constitution

October 30, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday defended a controversial call for a Diet debate on constitutional amendment that he made in his policy address last week.

The prime minister is not banned from calling on parliament to discuss such an issue, Abe told the day's plenary meeting of the House of Councillors, the first opportunity for the upper chamber to ask questions about his speech to the Diet delivered Wednesday.

In the address, Abe expressed his eagerness to see his Liberal Democratic Party present its constitutional revision draft to the Diet and called on lawmakers to work on the constitutional reform.

At the Upper House meeting, Saori Yoshikawa of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said that ministers should exercise self-restraint when speaking about the constitution, given that Article 99 of the top law obliges them to "respect and uphold" the constitution.

Abe said the article requires ministers to observe the constitution and work to implement it but does not prohibit them from discussing constitutional amendment.

Elsewhere in the Upper House meeting, Abe said the government will strive to expand opportunities for people with disabilities, following the recent revelation that many government agencies padded the numbers of their disabled workers.

On a consumption tax hike planned for October 2019, the prime minister vowed to include in the government's fiscal 2019 and 2020 budgets special measures to alleviate its impact on the economy.

Abe expressed his wish to open a new era for Japan and China by realizing Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Japan, following his visit to China last week.

On Japan-Russia relations, Abe showed his intention to negotiate patiently with Moscow under the basic policy of resolving the issue of sovereignty over the four disputed islands off Hokkaido before concluding a peace treaty that formally ends the two countries' World War II hostilities. Jiji Press