Kishida not mulling revising Constitution’s Article 9 for now

September 7, 2017

TOKYO- Fumio Kishida, chairman of the Policy Research Council of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has again expressed his cautious stance about revising war-renouncing Article 9 of the constitution.

"I'm not considering for now" such a constitutional revision, Kishida said in an interview with media organizations including Jiji Press on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has proposed revising Article 9 of the constitution to clarify the rationale for the existence of the Self-Defense Forces.

Noting that the Japanese government had held careful discussions before the controversial national security laws were enacted in 2015, Kishida said, "I'm not going to consider revising Article 9 itself as we're now watching how the national security laws are going to work in reality." The laws came into force last year.

Initially, Abe planned to put forward an LDP proposal for constitutional amendments to the extraordinary parliamentary session this autumn.

But Abe later toned down his stance on the matter in the face of a fall in the public support rate for his cabinet after a series of political scandals involving cabinet ministers including himself. There should be no predetermined time frame for amending the constitution, Abe said.

Kishida said he wants to proceed with discussions on constitutional amendments within the party "in a polite manner."

In the interview, Kishida stressed that the planned consumption tax hike from 8 pct to 10 pct in October 2019 should be steadily carried out to restore fiscal health.

"It's essential to raise (the tax rate) to 10 pct from the viewpoint of securing trust in the country," Kishida said.

He also pointed to the need for achieving the government's target of turning the primary budget balance to a surplus in fiscal 2020. A primary budget surplus means that a government can finance its spending on policy measures, except for debt-serving costs, without issuing new debt.

The government should maintain its plan of using additional revenue from the tax hike to cover social security costs, Kishida said.

"I want to spread discussions to societal and institutional structural problems behind economic activities," he also said, indicating that he wants to emphasize sustainability in economic and social security policies. Jiji Press