Japanese Paper Urges Giving Premier Emergency Powers

Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, broke another post-World War II taboo today by urging the Japanese people to support its proposal that the prime minister be given emergency powers to deal with foreign military threats, disasters and terrorism.

The 10-million-circulation newspaper suggested that new measures be passed to let the prime minister declare a state of emergency, issue orders on authority of only his Cabinet and dispatch troops to an emergency--at home or overseas.

Under the newspaper’s suggestions, Parliament’s approval would be needed for such moves, but Japan’s elected head of government could seek legislative approval before or after exercising special powers.

The Yomiuri proposals were noteworthy because, throughout the 50-year postwar democratic government, civil libertarians and politicians who feared Japan might revert to authoritarian rule have tenaciously opposed approving any such special ministerial powers, even in times of crisis.

But the Yomiuri said the Jan. 17 Kobe earthquake, which killed more than 5,500 people, and a March 20 nerve gas attack on Tokyo’s subways that killed 12 people, “exposed the weakness of the government” in dealing with emergencies. It also underscored the need for reform.

The newspaper published its proposals on Constitution Day, a national holiday in memory of the postwar charter that was put into force on May 3, 1947, under the U.S. occupation of Japan. Its suggestions--the first such reform plans from a mass media outlet--were a follow-up to groundbreaking recommendations that the Yomiuri made last November for constitutional revisions.

Although Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun, two other nationwide dailies, have opposed Yomiuri proposals to pay more attention to security issues, constitutional revision--which not long ago was a political taboo in Japan--now has become “a mainstream topic in Japan,” said Prof. David Arase of the University of London.

Yomiuri Shimbun, as in November, urged the Japanese to awaken from “a stupefied feeling of the last 50 years since the end of World War II that Japan has become divorced from military activities. . . . Peace and security cannot be achieved only with hopes.”

Its chief proposal was for an expansion of the token Cabinet Security Office into a Comprehensive Security Council, empowered to cut through government bureaucracy and deal not only with defense but also disasters and terrorism.

The paper also supported an indefinite continuance of the U.S.-Japan security treaty. It called the military pact, under which 47,000 U.S. troops are stationed here, “the foundation for assuring Japan’s security.” The treaty, it added, should be continued “until the United Nations become capable of assuring Japan’s security,” a situation that no one in Japan expects to occur in the foreseeable future.