Antipiracy legislation talks break down between ruling bloc, DPJ

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TOKYO, April 22 Kyodo -
Talks on amending an antipiracy bill between the ruling parliamentary bloc and
the main opposition party broke down Wednesday, leading the governing coalition
to plan its passage through a House of Representatives panel on Thursday.
Takashi Fukaya, the Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker who heads the special
committee on antipiracy operations, decided at a meeting of panel directors to
force a vote on the government-sponsored bill without an amendment on Thursday,
ruling bloc lawmakers said.
The bill is expected to clear the panel and the chamber at a plenary session
and be sent to the House of Councillors by the end of Thursday.
''We are not thinking about blocking the bill's enactment,'' a senior
Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker in the upper house said, suggesting that the
main opposition party would agree to vote in the opposition-controlled upper
house after a period of deliberations.
The DPJ's likely stance raises the possibility that the legislation will be
enacted into law by the end of the current parliamentary session through June 3
after the lower house passes it a second time.
Ranking panel members of the LDP-New Komeito coalition bloc and the DPJ had
held meetings since Tuesday in hopes of striking a deal on the matter.
At issue was whether the ruling coalition would agree to add a Diet approval
provision to the bill so the Self-Defense Forces can be sent abroad on an
antipiracy mission only if the Diet gives its approval before their dispatch.
The bill, as it stands, would only require the prime minister to report to
parliament once the minister approves that instead of the Japan Coast Guard,
the SDF should be dispatched to combat pirates.
The LDP proposed a compromise plan to the DPJ during the meetings between their
ranking panel members, but the DPJ rejected it, according to participants in
the meetings. The LDP did not agree to amend the bill in line with the DPJ's
proposal, either, they said.
Smaller opposition parties -- the Social Democratic Party and the People's New
Party -- oppose both the government-sponsored bill and the DPJ-proposed
amendment.
A temporary law has previously been enacted each time to send the SDF abroad,
such as to Iraq and the Indian Ocean off Afghanistan, essentially requiring a
parliamentary approval to make its overseas operations possible.
The government and the ruling parliamentary bloc say a similar approval is
unnecessary for antipiracy operations because they are an exercise of policing
authority and thus do not constitute a military action.
Japan has sent two Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers to the Gulf of Aden
off Somalia on an antipiracy mission on the basis of the maritime police action
provision of the Self-Defense Forces Law.
The provision allows the SDF to escort only Japanese-linked ships, such as
Japanese-registered ships and foreign-flagged vessels operated by Japanese
firms, and to use weapons against pirates only in limited circumstances,
including in self-defense.
Once the legislation is enacted, the government plans to switch the legal basis
for the antipiracy mission so that the destroyers would be able to protect any
ship, regardless of its Japanese connections.
The legislation would also authorize the SDF to open fire on pirate boats that
despite repeated warnings approach commercial ships -- the provision that
concerns some opposition lawmakers who worry about its potential conflict with
the country's Constitution, which limits the use of force abroad.
Some opposition lawmakers say legalizing the use of weapons in such a manner
could pave the way for wider and more liberal use of weapons by the SDF when it
is dispatched abroad on different missions.
==Kyodo
2009-04-22 23:34:53