Poll show majority of Japanese oppose security bills as vote looms

But Mr. Abe risks a voter backlash that could undermine the government when it faces an upper house election, to be held by July 2016.

From Beijing’s perspective, the next decade could be its most hard, and it must learn from the USA in developing a set of “standard response procedures”, he said, adding that China must learn to be patient as the U.S. did at the end of the 19th century.

Japan’s national security policy is the result of a delicate balancing act between war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution and the Japan-U.S. security treaty.

Since June, tens of thousands of demonstrators have repeatedly surrounded Japan’s parliament, or Diet, and gathered in cities across the nation to express their discontent with the proposed security legislation.

The bills would allow Japan’s military to defend its allies even when Japan isn’t under attack, and to do more in worldwide peacekeeping.

By doing that, the opposition can hope the ruling party might give up the legislation, though considering Mr. Abe’s commitment to it, that seems unlikely.

Fifty four percent of the respondents in the survey, which was conducted over the weekend and published on Monday by Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, disagreed with the bills, compared to the 29 percent who supported them.

Public opinion polls say majority do not want the bills legislated, at least not until the conditions under which military activities will take place are clarified. Shigeru Yamaguchi, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court, made an nearly unprecedented foray into the political debate, coming out publicly against the bills. It is widely expected to be voted on, and passed, later this week.

The laws would considerably broaden the powers of Japan’s army, which has been restricted to self-defense actions underneath the structure enacted in 1947 beneath US supervision.

A few of the demonstrators say they worry permitting Japanese troopers to battle overseas might drag the nation into an extended battle or put Japanese assist staff and residents abroad in larger hazard.

Keishi Nunohara is among those with doubts about the bills.

In this September 15, 2015 photo, Aki Okuda, a leader of the student group known as SEALDs, or Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracies, speaks during a hearing at the committee on the security legislation in the parliament’s upper house in Tokyo.

Qiao said it is important for the Chinese people to recognize what their country’s “core interests” are, adding that there are only two: ensuring that the governing status of the Communist Party remains unshakable and acknowledging that the road to the rise of the Chinese people can not be interrupted.