安倍內閣解禁日本集體自衛權
Shinzo Abe’s plans to allow Japanese forces to defend allies have drawn fire from Beijing, which has accused Tokyo of “undermining regional peace and stability”. But they have also heightened tensions back home.
安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)讓日本自衛隊保衛盟友的計劃招致中國批評，被指“損害地區和平穩定”。但安倍的計劃也在日本國內加劇了緊張氣氛。Since the prime minister started public briefings on the move last month, his cabinet’s approval rating has sagged to 45 per cent, the lowest rating since it was formed in December 2012.
自這位日本首相上月就此舉開始公開吹風以來，他的內閣的支持率已跌至45%，這是安倍政府自2012年12月組建以來最低的。Polls taken by three national dailies within the past week showed that at least half of respondents opposed the idea of Japan exercising its right to collective self-defence, with a third or fewer in favour.
三份全國性日報在過去一週進行的民意調查顯示，至少一半受訪者反對日本行使集體自衛權的主意，三分之一或更少的受訪者贊同。
On Sunday a man set himself alight on a pedestrian footbridge in the busy Tokyo district of Shinjuku, having spent an hour denouncing Mr Abe’s plans through a megaphone, said eyewitnesses. He was taken to hospital but his condition is unknown.
目擊者稱，上週日，一名男子在通過擴音器譴責安倍的計劃一小時後，在東京繁忙的新宿區的一座人行天橋上自焚。此人後被送往醫院，但目前狀況不詳。Thousands took to the streets near parliament on Monday and yesterday, some waving posters depicting Mr Abe with a swastika tattoo and Hitler moustache.
週一和週二，成千上萬人走上街頭，在日本國會附近抗議，其中一些人舉着安倍晉三刻着納粹紋身、留着希特勒式小鬍子的海報。Many Japanese are not fundamentally opposed to what Mr Abe is attempting to do. The prime minister’s more assertive foreign policy – including the visit last December to the Yasukuni shrine, where Japan’s wartime leaders are honoured – has played well among voters. And some see problems with existing restrictions on the country’s Self-Defence Forces. At the moment, for example, troops on overseas relief missions are allowed to discharge their weapons only if they themselves come under fire.
很多日本人並不是從根本上反對安倍試圖採取的行動。這位日本首相更爲自信的外交政策——包括去年12月參拜供奉日本戰死者亡靈的靖國神社(Yasukuni shrine)——在選民中反響不錯。同時，一些人認爲，日本自衛隊目前面臨的限制確實存在各種問題。例如，目前在海外執行救災任務的自衛隊部隊只有在自己遭遇敵方火力的情況下，才被允許使用武器還擊。“If NGOs very close to Japanese camps are attacked, the SDF may not be able to help,” says Yoshiki Mine, a former diplomat in charge of talks with North Korea. “This is very, very odd.”
“如果非常靠近日方營地的非政府組織遭到攻擊，自衛隊未必能提供幫助，”曾負責與朝鮮談判的前外交官美根慶樹(Yoshiki Mine)表示，“這是非常、非常奇怪的。”But many resent the way the prime minister has gone about it. Critics argue that the shift amounts to, in effect, a rewriting of Japan’s constitution, but without any attempt to clear the requisite hurdle of a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament, followed by a national referendum.
但是，很多日本人對首相在這件事上的具體做法不滿。批評者提出，解禁集體自衛權實際上是對日本憲法的重寫，但並沒有尋求按正式程序在國會兩院以超過三分之二的多數票通過、然後舉行全民公投。Article 9 of the constitution states that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes”. The charter has not been revised since it was adopted in 1947.
日本憲法第九條聲明：“日本國民衷心謀求基於正義與秩序的國際和平，永遠放棄以國家權力發動的戰爭、使用武力或武力威脅作爲解決國際爭端的手段。”這部憲法自1947年通過以來從未修訂。The Japanese are still “very attached to the principle of pacifism in the postwar regime”, says Jiro Yamaguchi, a professor of political science at Hosei University, who is among a group of more than 500 scholars opposed to the move. “We are against the amendment of the constitution without formal procedures.”
日本法政大學(Hosei University)政治學教授山口二郎(Jiro Yamaguchi)是逾500名反對此舉的學術界人士之一。他表示，日本人仍然“非常重視戰後政權的和平主義原則……我們反對不走正式程序的修憲行爲。”Mr Abe’s supporters claim the SDF’s looser mandate is nothing to be afraid of. Shinichi Kitaoka, a former Japanese ambassador to the UN who served as the deputy chairman of a panel advising on reinterpreting the constitution, says the shift should be seen as a continuation of the government’s efforts to beef up its defence policy, including the creation last year of a US-style national security council and the introduction of tougher laws to penalise leaks of classified information.
安倍的支持者稱，放寬自衛隊的權限沒什麼可怕的。日本前駐聯合國大使、就重新解釋憲法提供建議的顧問委員會副主席北岡伸一(Shinichi Kitaoka)表示，這一轉變應被視爲政府加強國防政策的努力的延續，這些努力包括去年組建一個美國式的國家安全委員會，以及出臺懲罰泄密的更嚴厲法律。Mr Kitaoka also notes that there have been reinterpretations of the constitution before, allowing Japan to establish the SDF in 1954, for example, and to support US forces overseas in 2001. But to many, defending allies even when Japan itself is not under direct attack stretches the definition of the “minimum” level of armed strength enshrined in Japan’s fundamental concepts of national defence.
北岡還指出，以前也有對憲法的重新解釋，比如1954年允許日本建立自衛隊，以及2001年允許自衛隊在海外支援美軍。但對許多人來說，在日本自身沒有直接受到攻擊的情況下去保衛盟國，這與日本國防根本概念中神聖不可侵犯的“最低”水平軍力的定義實在難以吻合。“It is reckless that [Mr Abe] rushed to decide on this very important issue without thorough discussions,” says Shigeaki Matsuda, a 66-year-old exhibition curator who joined the protest yesterday. “There is no democracy here.”
“（安倍）在未經深入討論的情況下，匆忙在這個非常重要的問題上做出決定，這很魯莽，”昨日參加抗議的66歲的展覽策劃人Shigeaki Matsuda表示，“這裏沒有民主。”Prospects for a legal challenge are not encouraging, as Japan’s Supreme Court has a history of deferring to the government on security matters. So as Mr Abe tries to push supporting legislation through the Diet in coming sessions, says Prof Yamaguchi, the onus falls on opposition parties to mount a challenge. “We’ll keep fighting,” he says.
法律挑戰的前景並不令人鼓舞，因爲日本最高法院在安全事項上曾多次順從政府。因此，法政大學的山口教授表示，在安倍接下來試圖推動國會支持配套立法之際，只有依靠反對黨來發起挑戰。“我們將繼續鬥爭，”他說。
