Japan to let its troops fight abroad for the first time since the war

The dust is settling from a marathon and sometimes chaotic parliamentary battle over security Bills allowing Japanese troops to fight abroad for the first time since the second World War.

The passage of the Bills early on Saturday morning has been welcomed by Australia and the US, Japan's key military ally, but condemned by China.

Xinhua, China’s state news agency, said the security Bills “not only broke Japan’s promise to the world after the second World War, but also betrayed its own people”.

Prime minister Shinzo Abe insisted Japan had to loosen the restraints on its defence-only military, imposed after its defeat in 1945, to deal with new threats, notably China's growing military clout in Asia.

“The legislation is needed to protect the people’s lives and their peaceful livelihood, and it is to prevent war,” Mr Abe told reporters after the upper house cleared the Bills.

Combat abroad

Their passage means the country’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF) will be allowed to take part in combat abroad for the first time since 1945 – though with severe restrictions, says the prime minister. A joint statement of US Republican and Democratic committee leaders on Friday heralded the “larger role for Japan in regional and global security affairs” promised by the legislation.

Scholars, lawyers and opposition politicians at home, however, have condemned Mr Abe for steamrolling the Bills through parliament. Debate on the Bills was dogged by some of the biggest public protests seen in Japan for years. Hundreds of demonstrators lingered outside parliament at the weekend, some vowing to fight on.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama denounced passage of the bills as “the single greatest atrocity in Japan’s postwar parliamentary history.”

Many Japanese fear they will be dragged into foreign wars with America. The government insists that Japanese forces will only come to the aid of their US counterparts in precisely defined scenarios.

With his popularity slipping following a political battle over the Bills, Mr Abe is expected to shift gears back to the economy. But experts predicted that he will face a legal battle over his challenge to Japan’s 70-year-old pacifist stance.