Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi intends to strengthen Japanese intelligence. To do this, it has already taken a first step. On May 27, the law establishing a National Intelligence Council was passed in the Diet, the Japanese Parliament. The Council will be set up in July and chaired by the Prime Minister herself. A certain number of ministers (of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Industry, Transport and Defense), in particular, will take part.
Its mission: to centralize intelligence-related information and put an end to compartmentalization between existing organizations, such as the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the Public Security Agency. It will also involve investigating foreign intelligence operations, particularly influence operations carried out by foreign spies.
Member of the Liberal Democratic Party and heir to Shinzo Abe, the very conservative Prime Minister had set this ambitious objective upon her arrival in power last October, based on the observation, established for decades, of the dispersion of intelligence in numerous entities operating without real cooperation. He was also motivated by recent failures at the Public Security Intelligence Agency, as well as the arrest of 17 Japanese businessmen in China since 2014, as part of a spy hunt led by Xi Jinping. Finally, the uncertainty around American involvement with Tokyo was another trigger.
La Chine s’inquiète
Opposition parties have expressed concern about the powers of the new entity, which they say risks intensifying surveillance of citizens and undermining freedom of expression and the right to privacy – Japan adopted a law on the protection of sensitive information in 2013. They have therefore expressed their wish that its powers be controlled in particular by the Diet, a request to which the government did not accede.
“These are intelligence activities contributing to the management of state affairs, particularly in matters of national security and the fight against terrorism,” Sanae Takaichi refuted to journalists. “I will not give any instructions that are not based on these principles, so there will be no unnecessary invasion of privacy.” Furthermore, she announced her intention to have the National Intelligence Council establish a document defining its medium and long-term activity guidelines, which will include in particular measures aimed at preventing any infringement of citizens’ rights.
The concerns don’t just come from within. Quoted by the official Chinese press agency century. “Historically, Japanese intelligence agencies helped lay the foundations of Japanese militarism and its war of aggression [NDLR : le Japon a occupé la Chine à partir de 1937]and committed countless crimes against neighboring Asian countries and the Japanese people themselves,” he said.
The Prime Minister does not want to stop there. Deeming it necessary to repress intelligence activities carried out by foreign powers, it also intends to create a true central foreign intelligence agency, which would have the contours of the American CIA. Remember that article 9 of the Constitution prohibits the country from maintaining an army – it does, however, have self-defense forces – and engaging in a war. Finally, Japan aspires to join the Five Eyes, the intelligence alliance bringing together the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
