英字新聞

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 4
EDITORIAL: Isozaki’s views reflect the cowboy mind-set of Abe & Co.
（社説）礒崎氏の発言　首相の任命責任を問う

Yosuke Isozaki’s controversial remarks about security legislation have become a major political issue, not simply because they were mouthed by a special adviser on national security to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
　問題は首相補佐官としての発言の是非にとどまらない。

Isozaki’s comments, which belittled the importance of legal stability, have raised questions about Abe’s responsibility for appointing this individual to the key security policy post and also about the administration’s overarching tendency to make light of the Constitution.
安倍首相の任命責任、さらには憲法を軽視してきた政権全体の姿勢が問われている。

Talking about the package of government-drafted security bills now before the Upper House, Isozaki, in a July 26 speech, said: "What we have to think about is whether the measures are necessary to protect Japan. Legal stability has nothing to do with it."
Isozaki on Aug. 3 testified before an Upper House special committee on the security legislation as an unsworn witness.
　安全保障関連法案をめぐって「考えないといけないのは、わが国を守るために必要な措置かどうかで、法的安定性は関係ない」と講演で発言した礒崎陽輔首相補佐官が、参院特別委員会で参考人として釈明した。

He acknowledged that his remarks had been “inappropriate” and apologized, but refused to resign as adviser to the prime minister.
　自らの発言を「不適切だった」と認め、陳謝したが、首相補佐官の辞任は否定した。

The unacceptable part of his testimony is his claim that his remarks produced a “big misunderstanding.” In a posting on his website dated July 19, before the speech in question, Isozaki said the following:
　納得できないのは、礒崎氏が「大きな誤解を与えてしまった」と述べている点だ。
　たとえば問題発言のあった講演より前、７月１９日付の礒崎氏のホームページには当初、次のような記述があった。

"It doesn’t serve the national interest to become preoccupied with making the formalist argument that (the security legislation) lacks legal stability with the traditional government interpretation of the Constitution when there have been significant changes in the international situation surrounding Japan.”
　「日本を取り巻く国際情勢が大きく変化しているにもかかわらず、従来の憲法解釈との法的安定性を欠くなどという形式議論に終始しているのは、国家にとって有益ではありません」

In this positing, too, Isozaki dismissed the argument for legal stability as a “formalist” view.
So there was no misunderstanding. This is what he truly thinks.
　ここでも法的安定性を「形式議論」と切り捨てていた。誤解でも何でもない、これこそが偽らざる本音だったのだろう。

While he was an elite bureaucrat at the former home affairs ministry (now the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications), Isozaki, as a Cabinet counselor, was involved in the drafting of legislation to deal with security emergencies.
Then he entered politics by running successfully in an Upper House election as a candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party.
　総務省出身の礒崎氏は、内閣参事官として有事法制の整備を手がけた後、自民党参院議員に転身。

Since he was appointed as an adviser to Abe, Isozaki has been working as a coordinator for the prime minister’s office to push the series of security policy initiatives.
Among security policy moves in which he has been involved are the establishment of the state secrets protection law, the change in the government’s interpretation of the Constitution to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense under certain conditions and the drafting of the security legislation that recently cleared the Lower House.
首相補佐官に起用され、特定秘密保護法の制定や、集団的自衛権の行使を一部容認する憲法解釈の変更、安保法案の作成に首相官邸の代表として調整にあたった。

In February, Isozaki, speaking as the secretary-general of the LDP’s headquarters for promoting constitutional amendments, said, “We are going to give the people a taste of constitutional amendments.” That comment also triggered public criticism.
２月には自民党の憲法改正推進本部事務局長として「憲法改正を国民に一回味わってもらう」と述べ、物議を醸したこともある。

Isozaki has been acting as a flag waver for Abe’s constitutional amendment agenda, so to speak.
　いわば安倍首相の改憲路線の旗振り役でもある。

Abe has cautioned members of his administration to “refrain from making remarks that arouse doubt.”
Given the depth of the relationship between Abe and Isozaki, however, what this adviser said cannot be dismissed simply as a gaffe by a close aide to the prime minister.
　首相は「疑念をもたれるような発言は慎まねばならない」と述べたが、その関係の深さを考えれば、単なる側近議員の失言で片付けるわけにはいかない。

Senior LDP lawmakers have made remarks that indicate they are putting greater importance on security policy than on the Constitution. “The nation could fall into ruin while protecting the Constitution” is a typical refrain.
　「憲法守って国滅ぶ」。自民党幹部からは憲法より安保政策の方が優先だ、と言わんばかりの発言が聞かれる。

Remarks such as this, which is similar in essence to what Isozaki said, reflect a mind-set of treating the Constitution and legal stability lightly.
礒崎氏の発言と根っこは同じ憲法軽視、法的安定性軽視の姿勢だ。

Isozaki’s words have underscored afresh an inherent lack of legal stability in the security legislation.
　礒崎氏の発言は、安保法案の法的安定性の本質的な欠如をも改めて浮かび上がらせた。

The administration has made a 180-degree change in the official interpretation of the Constitution with regard to whether Japan can exercise the right to collective self-defense, from “no” to “yes,” while stressing the qualifier “under certain circumstances.”
　限定行使の名のもとに、集団的自衛権を「行使できない」から「行使できる」に百八十度転換したこと。

The administration has also exhibited a propensity to secure the government as much leeway as possible to make its own security policy decisions.
時の政権の裁量の余地を、できるだけ限定せずに残しておこうとする姿勢。

It is obvious that the security legislation lacks legal stability.
　法案が法的安定性を欠くのは明らかである。

The blame for this serious flaw with the legislation should be borne by the prime minister himself and the entire ruling camp, including Komeito, the LDP’s junior coalition partner.
その責めは、首相自身と、公明党を含む政権全体が負うべきものだ。

Isozaki’s testimony as an unsworn witness before the Diet alone cannot put an end to this serious political problem.
礒崎氏の招致で済む話ではない。