Jan 11, 2008TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's opposition-controlled upper house on Friday voted down a bill to resume a naval mission supporting the US-led "war on terror," a decision doomed to be overriden by the lower house.
The bill would restart the mission providing fuel to coalition forces on the Indian Ocean, on the last possible day the upper house had to act on the legislation submitted 60 days earlier.
The opposition-led upper house rejected the bill on a largely party-line vote of 133 against and 106 in favour, Satsuki Eda, president of the upper house, announced after the vote count.
But the decision means the bill will be returned to the lower house, where Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's coalition is set to pass it using its two-thirds majority.
It would be the first time in a half-century that the Japanese parliament has resorted to such drastic measures to ram through a bill rejected by one house of parliament.
The mission was suspended in November after the opposition won control of the upper house and blocked an extension of legislation.
Fukuda argues that Japan must resume the mission to take responsibility in global security affairs. The opposition counters that Japan, officially pacifist since World War II, should not be part of "American wars."
The bill would restart the mission providing fuel to coalition forces on the Indian Ocean, on the last possible day the upper house had to act on the legislation submitted 60 days earlier.
The opposition-led upper house rejected the bill on a largely party-line vote of 133 against and 106 in favour, Satsuki Eda, president of the upper house, announced after the vote count.
But the decision means the bill will be returned to the lower house, where Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's coalition is set to pass it using its two-thirds majority.
It would be the first time in a half-century that the Japanese parliament has resorted to such drastic measures to ram through a bill rejected by one house of parliament.
The mission was suspended in November after the opposition won control of the upper house and blocked an extension of legislation.
Fukuda argues that Japan must resume the mission to take responsibility in global security affairs. The opposition counters that Japan, officially pacifist since World War II, should not be part of "American wars."
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