From: clarinews@clarinet.com (BILL LAMP)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.military,clari.news.issues.conflict,clari.news.politics,biz.clarinet.sample
Followup-to: biz.clarinet.sample
Subject: Parties near accord on sending Japanese troops abroad
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, military,
	war & peace, social issues, political parties, politics
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 8:00:16 PDT
Location: japan
ACategory: international
Slugword: japan-peacekeeping
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 585; Id: z3018; Sel: xxigf; Adate: 4-14-11aed
Codes: yigfrxx., yim.rjp., yixwrjp., yipprjp.

	TOKYO (UPI) -- Two small opposition parties Tuesday took a big step
toward passing a bill that would allow Japanese ground troops to be sent
abroad for the first time since World War II.
	Secretary-General Yuichi Ichikawa hinted his Buddhist-affiliated
Komei (Clean Government) Party would compromise with the centrist
Democratic Socialist Party and back a version of the bill that requires
prior approval by the Diet, Japan's parliament, when troops are
dispatched.
	The bill at issue, which would allow the government to send lightly
armed soldiers to join peacekeeping operations mounted by the United
Nations, has drawn heavy criticism from the main opposition party and
from several Asian nations fearful of a resurgence of militarism in
Japan.
	The Social Democratic Party, Japan's biggest opposition group, has
adamantly insisted the legislation violates the constitution, which 
``bans the use or threat of force in solving international disputes.''
	``If the DSP is willing to put (its own proposal) on hold, then there
is room for discussion (of sending troops overseas),'' a Komei Party
spokesman quoted Ichikawa as telling party members.
	The remarks indicate the Komei Party has given up its staunch
opposition to prior Diet approval.
	In December, a brawl broke out in the Diet when the governing Liberal
Democratic Party and Komei Party rammed the bill through committee.
Since then the Komei Party has been careful to seek a broad consensus on
the issue.
	The legislation is now stuck in the Diet's opposition-controlled
upper chamber, but it could be passed if the LDP and the two opposition
parties agreed to back it.
	The sticking point for the DSP has been the issue of prior consent by
the Diet. The party is fully committed to sending troops to join
peacekeeping missions abroad, but it is leery of handing control over
the decision in particular cases to the Cabinet, which has been
dominated by the LDP since its inception.
	An agreement between the two smaller opposition parties would put
heavy pressure on the LDP to relent and back a version requiring prior
consent.
	Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa pledged Monday to pursue the bill and
rapped the SDP for its intractable stand. He also indicated the LDP
would consider amending its version of the bill in consultation with the
other two parties.
	The chairman of the SDP, Makoto Tanabe, said in an interview Monday
with Kyodo News Service that his party would not object to sending
members of the military if they were not on active duty.
	Consensus has built in Nagatacho, Japan's Capitol Hill, that Japan
must contribute to the U.N. peacekeeping project in Cambodia to show its
commitment to international peace goes deeper than its pocketbook.
	During the Gulf War, all attempts by the Diet to send non-combat
support personnel to help in the allied effort foundered.
	Instead, Tokyo pledged $2 billion to the multi-national forces
arrayed against Iraq and $2 billion in aid to frontline states.
	Pressured by the United States, Japan came up with an additional $9
billion, but still came in for heavy criticism that it was unwilling to
spill the blood of its soldiers, despite importing much of its oil from
the region.
	Conservatives have been struggling for 40 years to revise the
constitution, which was written by occupying U.S. forces, to provide a
more stable legal underpinning for the military.
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