The Yomiuri Shimbun
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Thursday was rebuffed by Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa over a request for the opposition party to cooperate in the adoption of a new antiterrorism bill at the current Diet session.
Failure by the two leaders to reach an agreement on the government-sponsored bill aimed at resuming the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean has set the stage for the extension of the current Diet session, observers say.
The Diet session, which had already been extended earlier this month, will end on Dec. 15. The government and the ruling parties are set to enter discussions on a plan to extend the session for a second time, government sources said.
On Thursday, Fukuda held separate meetings at the Prime Minister's Office with Akihiro Ota, leader of New Komeito, the junior partner in the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition, and opposition leaders, including Ozawa.
During the meeting with Ozawa, Fukuda proposed talks between the ruling and opposition parties over key policy issues, including the establishment of a permanent law on the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces personnel for overseas missions and pension system reform. But Ozawa rejected all the proposals.
The prime minister and Ozawa met for 45 minutes starting at 3 p.m. The meeting also was attended by the secretaries general and the Diet Affairs Committee chairmen of the LDP and the DPJ, as well as Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura. The Fukuda-Ozawa talks came after they discussed a possible grand coalition between the current ruling parties and the DPJ on Nov. 2.
Fukuda told Ozawa he had received a request from U.S. President George W. Bush to resume the MSDF's refueling activities during their talks in Washington on Friday.
"I strongly feel my responsibility [to ensure the MSDF mission restarts]. I would like you to support [my bid] to get the bill adopted," Fukuda told the DPJ leader.
However, Ozawa rejected the request, saying: "It goes against the Constitution to send SDF personnel overseas without regard to principles. I find it impossible to make concessions [on the issue], however strongly you may ask me to."
Fukuda responded by saying, "If [the DPJ] does not support [the bill], I want [the opposition party] to vote against it."
Fukuda's remark was intended to ask the DPJ not to prolong Diet discussions on the new antiterrorism bill in the opposition bloc-controlled House of Councillors, according to observers.
(Nov. 23, 2007)
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