Cowardice in Explanation

Question Time, an opportunity for the opposite leaders to ask about policies of Prime Minister, was held on Wednesday for the first time in current session of National Diet. Frustrated with unilateral maneuver of the leading parties with extremely few chances to question, the opposite leaders grilled Shinzo Abe on his determining agenda, new security legislatures. Trying to defend his standpoint, Abe kept on escaping from detailing about what kind of consequence the legislatures would bring.

President of Democratic Party of Japan, Katsuya Okada, asked about how Abe would assess the risk on men and women of Self-defense Force in logistic support for multi-national coalition on foreign land, which would be allowed by new legislatures. Most people in Japan are actually worried about possible sacrifice in Self-defense Force by broadening their role in international peace and security.

What Abe focused on was not about the risk, but inconvenience of current legislature. In the logistic support for Operation Iraqi Freedom, Japanese government decided that SDF would be deployed only to “non-combatant area.” “After actual operations,” Abe told in the discussion in Diet, “we realized that defying a place as non-combatant was difficult. So, we needed to deploy first, and if the place would become dangerous, the force must retreat.” He defied the question about risk management.

Okada added a question about the area SDF would be deployed as an exercise of collective self-defense right. Great difference from exercise of individual self-defense will be that SDF can be deployed to foreign territory. Okada tried to reconfirm whether Abe recognized that difference.

Abe’s explanation was nothing more than general definition of SDF activities. “Japanese Self-defense Force is not basically supposed to be deployed to foreign land,” told Abe. Yes, it is true. But true meaning of new legislature is making foreign deployment possible, if new three conditions are fulfilled. The conditions are apparent danger of overturning Japan’s existence, no alternative to deal with it and minimum use of force. He was obviously afraid of criticisms on expanding operation of SDF.

As the national top leader, Abe needed to address ambiguity on new security legislatures. Because he believed in the overwhelming power of his party in the Diet, Abe tried to skip complicated discussion over the issue. As its consequence, the people in Japan cannot reach full understanding on what kind of risk their country is facing. Making the people blind on an important policy does not implement promise of democracy.