On June 14. 2015, about 25,000 protesters surrounded Japan's Diet building, urging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to step down and expressing strong opposition to his efforts to ram through new security bills, which were considered unconstitutional by legal experts of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Last week, four former high officials criticized Abe's series of security-related bills, pointing out that Japan could face the biggest crisis since its defeat in World War II.

Abe has lobbied hard to promote these new security bills with the intention of obtaining war powers. Through greater military cooperation, the United States and Japan could maintain power in East Asia and the Western Pacific Region.

The Japanese people firmly oppose Abe's new security bills, concerned that after 70 years of peaceful development, Abe could drag Japan into new armed conflicts if the war bills are passed in the current Diet session. There has been little mention of past Japanese aggression, and no apologies have been forthcoming from Abe. Now he appears determined to break the pacifist constitution. Abe's government does its utmost to curry favor with the US, behavior that insults the Japanese parliament and the law in the eyes of Japanese people and politicians, who find it an affront to the country's dignity.

Abe is seeking to exercise the right of collective self-defense. He has involved Japan in joint operations with the US, the country that invaded Iraq and refuses to apologize. How can Japan follow a peaceful path in the comapny of such conduct?

The Abe government has acted wilfully and pushed Japan into a dangerous situation. The Japanese people have every reason to oppose him in order to defend the country's peaceful future. Every person of conscience in the world should support the Japanese people's struggle for peace and justice.

The author is Shen Dingli, professor and Vice Dean of School of International Studies in Fudan University.

The article is edited and translated from《日本新安保法祸国殃民（望海楼）》, source: People's Daily.