The Heat: Japan to lift military engagement restrictions?

The Heat

After 70 years, is Japan about to lift its restrictions on military engagement?

Shinzo Abe may have just won a rare second term as party chief and Japan’s Prime Minister, but large scale protests in Japan continue against proposed legislation that could see Japanese troops engage in combat for the first time since World War II.

The upper house of the Japanese Parliament is expected to pass the legislation in a few weeks.

CCTV America’s Terrence Terashima provided an update on the issue.

The Heat discussed what this all means for the region and beyond with this panel:

  • Yoichi Shimatsu is an independent journalist and former editor of The Japan Times Weekly.
  • Alexis Dudden is a history professor at the University of Connecticut. She’s currently writing a book on Japan’s territorial disputes.
  • From Beijing, former Chinese diplomat Yang Xiyu. He’s a Senior Fellow with the China Institute of International Studies.
  • Katharine Moon is a scholar with the Brookings Institution and a professor of Political Science and Asian Studies at Wellesley College.