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Japanese survey respondents oppose national defense hike

More than half say no after 'hawkish' leader Abe raises issue
Japanese survey respondents oppose national defense hike

Japanese Ministry of Defense (picture: Wikimedia Commons)

Published: January 27, 2014 05:47 AM GMT
Updated: January 26, 2014 06:05 PM GMT

About 53.8 percent of the Japanese oppose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempt to allow Japan to exercise collective self-defense rights, compared to 37.1 percent who support the move, according to a latest poll released Sunday.

Abe said Friday during the opening of Diet session that Japan will review its self-imposed ban on exercising the collective self- defense, marking the first time the hawkish leader raised the issue in his policy speech.

The telephone poll, which conducted by Japan's Kyodo News through the weekend, also said that support rate of the prime minister's cabinet increased by 0.7 percent from the previous one to 55.9 percent, while the disapprove rate dropped to 31 percent from previous 32.6 percent.

About 60.2 percent of the respondents said they oppose restarting the country's idled nuclear reactors, while about 31.6 percent in favor of it.

Almost all reactors in the country are offline after the Fukushima nuclear disaster caused by earthquake-triggered tsunami in March 2011, while the Japanese government is mulling to reopen the idled reactors to meet Japan's energy demands.

The poll also showed that about 73.0 percent of respondents do not feel economic recovery brought by Abe's economic policies, dubbed "Abenomics," against 24.5 percent who felt the recovery.

Full Story: Over half Japanese against Japan's exercising of collective defense: survey

Source:Xinhuannet.com

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