Japan’s main opposition party grilled Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a parliament questioning session Wednesday, with attacks on his controversial plans for defense spending, nuclear power and child care.

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Kenta Izumi blasted the prime minister for deciding on a tax hike to pay for an increase in defense spending without parliamentary discussion. He called on Kishida to hold a snap election before any tax hikes take place.

“The prime minister’s decision was reckless,” Izumi said.

Kishida, who has the sole authority to dissolve parliament, replied saying only that he would “decide appropriately” on how to handle various political controversies as he seeks a mandate for his policies.

But with Kishida’s low approval ratings leading to concerns about how the ruling parties will fare in April’s nationwide local elections, the possible timing of when he might dissolve the Lower House for a snap election is now a hot topic in Japan’s political center of Nagatacho. The situation has been made more precarious since Kishida’s decision to raise taxes for the defense spending increase also angered members of his own party.

Last month, Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Koichi Hagiuda — a possible successor to Kishida who is opposed to a tax hike — called on the prime minister to hold a general election before taxes are raised for defense spending. Kishida has agreed, saying on a TV program Sunday that this should be the case.

Hagiuda has also proposed extending the 60-year redemption rule for Japanese government bonds as an alternative option for financial resources to fund the defense spending boost.

But on Wednesday, the prime minister appeared cautious about the idea, saying that such an extension would “cause the amount of government bonds issued to rise and affect market confidence.”

On defense policy, Izumi said a so-called counterstrike capability, included in the government’s security documents in December, wouldn’t be legal under international law.

“Counterstrike capability would include attacking (the enemy) when they start preparations for an attack, which would inevitably be a pre-emptive attack in violation of international law,” said Izumi. “The CDP is opposed to it.”

But Kishida replied by saying Japan would launch a counterstrike only as a last resort for minimum defense purposes to prevent a missile attack.

“Such a case would, of course, be in line with international law,” the prime minister said.

Izumi also went after Kishida over his green transformation policy, noting that the prime minister changed the previous policy from reducing dependence on nuclear power as much as possible while expanding renewable energy to maximizing the use of nuclear power as a decarbonized energy source. This involves accelerating reactor restarts, extending the life of current reactors and constructing next-generation reactors.

“Isn't the risk of nuclear disasters, armed attacks on power plants, accidents, large-scale power outages and (nuclear) waste disposal greater than those of other power-generation methods?” Izumi asked.

A stable supply of electricity is possible if a green policy focuses instead on things like energy conservation, renewable energy, power grid reform and electricity storage technology, he added.

But citing spiking energy costs, the need to decarbonize and the disruption in international energy markets caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kishida defended the continued use of nuclear energy as an essential part of Japan’s overall energy strategy.

“The use of nuclear energy remains necessary,” he said.

On child care, the CDP leader said that while Kishida had identified child-rearing policies as a critical issue, he had no detailed plans as of yet for how to fund any policies, and accused him of playing politics with the issue.

“To position child care and child-rearing as a top priority issue without providing financial resources for it is just an attempt to distract people from the defense tax hike,” Izumi said.

Kishida did not provide details on where the new funding would come from or how it would be spent. The government is now preparing a plan to increase the child care allowance, with final details expected around June or earlier.

“Under the state minister for children's policy, we will flesh out the details. Based on the contents ... we’ll consider how society as a whole can support them in a stable manner,” Kishida said.