Apr 23 07:23 AM US/EasternTOKYO, April 23 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The House of Representatives passed a government-sponsored antipiracy bill on Thursday without any amendment in the face of opposition by the Democratic Party of Japan and other smaller parties.
The bill, which would enable the regular dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces on antipiracy missions abroad, cleared the lower house's special committee on antipiracy operations in the afternoon before being approved by the chamber at a plenary session.
Although the bill is expected to be voted down at the opposition- controlled House of Councillors, it is likely to be enacted into law by the June 3 end of the current parliamentary session after the lower house passes it a second time.
"Ensuring the safety of maritime transport is a priority for a trading nation that relies heavily on imports for resources," Prime Minister Taro Aso said during the panel meeting. "Making further contributions (to maritime transport safety) has been much hoped for worldwide, and we have a duty to answer that call."
The legislation would authorize the SDF to open fire on pirate boats that despite repeated warnings approach commercial ships -- a provision that concerns some opposition lawmakers who worry about its potential conflict with the country's war-renouncing 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 a wider and more liberal use of weapons by the SDF when it is dispatched abroad on different missions.
The bill would give the Japan Coast Guard a principal role in antipiracy operations but allow the SDF to take on that role only if the coast guard cannot handle it.
"We proposed a good number of revisions and talked with the ruling bloc about an amendment, but ended up having most of them rejected. We opposed (the bill) because it's way too different from our party's way of thinking," said Naoto Kan, acting DPJ president, in a news conference.
He said his party would keep asking for the bill to be amended in the upper house, while noting he has yet to hear from party members in the chamber how they would handle it.
The legislative move follows a breakdown in talks on amending the bill the previous day between the ranking panel members of the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito party ruling bloc and the DPJ.
At issue was whether the ruling coalition would agree to add a Diet approval provision to the bill so that the SDF could be sent abroad on an antipiracy mission only if the Diet gives prior approval.
The bill, as it stands, would only require the prime minister to report to parliament once he or she gives approval for the SDF instead of the coast guard to be dispatched to defend ships against pirates.
The prime minister, according to the bill, would also have to report to parliament after a mission is completed.
The LDP proposed a compromise plan to the DPJ during the talks, but the DPJ rejected it, according to participants in the meetings between the two parties. 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 hitherto been enacted for each dispatch of the SDF abroad, such as to Iraq and the Indian Ocean off Afghanistan, requiring parliamentary approval in advance to make its overseas operations possible.
The government and the ruling parliamentary bloc say similar approval is unnecessary for antipiracy operations because they are an e
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