On April 28, DPJ President Katsuya Okada issued the following statement.

Yesterday (April 27), the governments of Japan and the United States agreed on the revised Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation.

The security environment surrounding Japan continues to grow ever more diversified and complex. To protect Japan’s peace and security, it is important that the Japan-U.S. Alliance is deepened in a manner that effectively addresses the new security environment while preserving Japan’s independence.

However, the revised Guidelines present serious issues.

First, the revised Guidelines assume a reinterpretation of the Constitution to allow for the exercise of the right to collective self-defense. Furthermore, notwithstanding the fact that this represents a major shift in the basis of Japan’s security policy, the Japanese government finalized the Guidelines with the United States without even holding Diet deliberations or obtaining the public’s understanding before the relevant legislation was submitted to the Diet. This is a complete reversal of the appropriate sequence of events and is absurd. The government’s attempt to begin deliberations regarding the legislation after establishing a fait accompli is a reckless approach, ignoring both the public and the Diet. It would not be an overstatement to say that the approach represents a challenge to democracy, and the DPJ finds it utterly unacceptable.

Secondly, the revised Guidelines abandoned the concept of “situations in areas surrounding Japan” and expanded the scope of Self-Defense Force operations to a global scale, assuming the exercise of the right to collective self-defense. In accordance with the spirit of the Constitution and from the standpoint of maintaining an exclusively defense-oriented policy, the DPJ does not accept the exercise of the right to collective self-defense that the Abe administration advances. In addition, the DPJ is against the unchecked expansion of the SDF’s overseas operations. The concept of “areas surrounding Japan” should be maintained. Further still, supports provided to the U.S. Forces for international peace and security should be reviewed not under permanent law but under a special measures act as the need arises.

Based on the Constitution’s principles of pacifism and the exclusively defense-oriented policy, we consider that it is the government’s given responsibility to maintain Japan’s independence, peace, and security and to safeguard the lives, property, and fundamental human rights of Japanese nationals against improper infringements by other countries. Recognizing the aforementioned two and other serious issues, the DPJ will closely examine and firmly engage in the Diet deliberations on the government’s security legislation, including the revised Guidelines. The majority of the Japanese public does not have an understanding of the details of the revised Guidelines nor the security legislation. We urge the government to provide responsible explanations through sufficient deliberations at the Diet.