Abe stresses need to clarify rationale of SDF in Constitution

February 5, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday emphasized the need to clarify the rationale for the existence of the Self-Defense Forces in the constitution's war-renouncing Article 9.

"Writing and clarifying the legitimacy of the SDF in the constitution concerns the foundation of Japan's national security," Abe told a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament.

"This can be a sufficient reason for revising the constitution," the prime minister said.

"The government has been consistent in its position that the SDF is constitutional," Abe said, adding that the SDF's constitutionality will not change regardless of the result of a national referendum.

Abe called for maintaining the second clause of Article 9, which prohibits Japan from possessing any war potential. Some members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party, including former Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba, want the second clause deleted.

The prime minister's remarks at the Budget Committee meeting appear to suggest he aims to build a consensus on the war-renouncing article ahead of the party convention set for March, sources familiar with the situation said.

Referring to a scandal in which staff of Economic Revitalization Minister Toshimitsu Motegi gave incense sticks to voters in his constituency, Abe said politicians need to be fully accountable if they raise suspicions.

At the meeting, Motegi reiterated that he did not distribute the incense sticks in question himself and claimed there is nothing illegal about the practice.

Article 199 of the public offices election law bans any organization whose board members include a political candidate from donating items showing or hinting at the name of the candidate to voters in the constituency.

Seiji Osaka of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, an opposition party, said that a political group headed by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga booked costs for incense sticks and flowers in its political fund report for 2011.

Suga declined to answer questions on the matter, saying he did not receive prior notice of the inquiry.

Osaka also grilled the government over the failure of National Tax Agency Commissioner Nobuhisa Sagawa to hold a press conference since taking office in July last year.

Osaka said Sagawa should testify as a sworn witness before the Diet to explain his involvement in a questionable discount sale of state-owned land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen in 2016, when he was chief of the Finance Ministry's Financial Bureau.

Finance Minister Taro Aso said Sagawa has spoken about the issue many times at the Diet.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Taro Kono said the United States is clearly committed to maintaining nuclear deterrence for its allies in the Nuclear Posture Review by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. He added that there is no reason not to welcome this commitment.

Regarding signals on resuming nuclear tests in the latest review, Kono said it is natural that there are changes from the previous review, noting China's nuclear buildup and Russia's current nuclear strategy. Jiji Press