Interview: We will keep fighting against security bills to promote peace: Japanese civil group leader

The controversial security-related bills pushed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are very dangerous for Japan as they may turn Japan into a war country, a leader of the Japan-China Friendship Association Osaka Branch has said in a recent interview.

"We don't want the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedies to repeat," Yutaka Matsuo, director-general of the group, told Xinhua on Tuesday. "What the Abe Administration is doing violates the Constitution. We will keep fighting to push the government to renounce the security bills."

Set up in the 1950s, the Japan-China Friendship Association aims to promote peace and friendship between Japan and China. It has branches all over Japan. Matsuo has been working for the Osaka branch for dozens of years.

Matsuo's father lost a brother and a sister when the atomic bomb "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki. "Wars are terrible. Nuclear weapons are more awful then conventional weapons. They could impose such a disaster to the human beings. The human society should get rid of nuclear weapons," he said.

"The war-renouncing Constitution allows Japan to enjoy peace for the past 70 years. But now the Abe Administration is trying to change the situation by pushing forward the security bills. The bills are going to allow Japanese young people to be sent to war. They are very dangerous."

"Japan shall reflect on the history and shall never fight wars again. Only by truly reflecting on the history could Japan build a good relationship with its neighbors," he said.

About 450 people attended a gathering held by Japan-China Friendship Association Osaka Branch on July 1. They signed on a letter of proposal to the Abe administration, requesting it to acknowledge the true history about WWII and withdraw the constitution-violating security bills.

"But we get no response from the government," said Matsuo. Meanwhile, the Abe administration is vigorously pushing the security-related bills in the Diet despite outcries from the people.

On July 16, the security-related bills were passed in the lower house of the Diet. Civil groups and people all over Japan rallied to protest against the bills.

"The security bills are in essence war bills. If the bills are passed in the Diet, Japan will be turned to a country that can fight wars. This is not only a danger to Japan itself, but also a challenge to the international society," said Matsuo.

"Abe and his coalition are now trying to push the unpopular bills in the upper house of Diet. Whether or not the security bills are to be passed, we will keep fighting to prevent the bills from being enacted," he said. Endi