Shinzo Abe is so obsessed with China eclipsing Japan on the global stage that he's adopting some of his neighbor's policies. What else can we say about the secrecy law the prime minister's Cabinet approved on Oct. 25, an act that would do so much to undermine and constrain his people's right to know?
Abe's Liberal Democratic Party says the move — which gives ministries the authority to classify as state secrets information on counterintelligence, counterterrorism, defense and diplomacy — is necessary to protect the nation's people from any number of risks. It claims this is a necessary step toward creating a U.S.-style national-security council and safely sharing vital intelligence with allies. And in the aftermath of the Edward Snowden/Bradley Manning leaks that have the U.S. re-examining its secrecy policies, why shouldn't Japan do something similar?
But Abe isn't offering definitions or guidelines for what constitutes a "special secret." Compare that with the specifics about the jail terms journalists can expect for disclosing something that someone, somewhere, somehow might label national-security-caliber info: as much as five years. Government officials who blow the whistle on improprieties could get as much as 10. But the vagueness of this law, its disturbing ambiguity, will have a further chilling effect on a national media that's already too docile. If you think it's hard to follow the state of play with the Fukushima nuclear crisis now, just wait until the law goes into effect, possibly as soon as next month.