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2015/09/04
DPJ and JIP submit Territorial Security Act to upper house
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On September 4, the DPJ and the Japan Innovation Party jointly submitted a proposal for a Territorial Security Act to the House of Councillors. A similar piece of legislation was also submitted to the House of Representatives in November 2014 and July 2015, and so this marks the third time it has been submitted to the Diet.
The two parties held a joint press conference following the submission of the legislation. DPJ Next Minister of Defense Motohiro Oono explained, “This submission will prove that ‘the third time’s the charm’. The legislation would enable seamless security measures to be realized by the police authorities and the SDF in order to protect our national territory, including remote islands, this being the most urgent issue that we currently face. We hope that it will produce fruitful discussions in the Diet.” The Chair of the DPJ General Research Committee on Security, Toshimi Kitazawa stressed that “one purpose [of the legislation] is to deal with the question of the defense of the south-western region, which is included in the National Defense Program Guidelines as part of Japan’s national policy, but is totally lacking from the government’s proposed security legislation.”
The following revisions have mainly been made to the Territorial Security Act since the bill was submitted to the House of Representatives:
●The period stipulated for territorial security zones has been changed from “five years or less” to “two years or less”.
●An item stating that the Minister of Defense should seek the opinions of the Chair of the National Public Safety Commission and the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (issues relating to the Japan Coast Guard) when ordering territorial security measures has been added.
●”Measures to respond to invasion of territorial airspace” included in the bill submitted to the lower house have been deleted due to overlap with the SDF Law.
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