Abe's political moves a cause for concern

FOR a leader who is virtually assured of at least three more years of near absolute political power, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gives the impression of being a man in a hurry to push through a political agenda that is looking increasingly controversial. This agenda has shifted quite dramatically in recent weeks from the promotion of Abenomics to something much more political than even the most sensitive of Mr Abe's proposed economic reforms.

His Liberal Democratic Party has pushed through Parliament a Bill to create a US-style National Security Council that will coordinate Japan's reactions in case of military emergencies and other emergencies and also a secrecy law whose reach appears to go beyond strict security issues.

There are various theories advanced as to why Mr Abe is behaving "like a man possessed". One is that he is afraid of a flare up of the problems that drove him from office after a brief first term as leader in 2006. He must do what he can while he can, according to this theory. Another is that he wants to reassert the principle of strong leadership or the "smack of firm government" in Japan. The nationalist agenda which Mr Abe is pursuing, in everything from stressing the importance of patriotism and military preparedness to requiring school textbooks to adopt a less self-condemnatory view of Japanese history, is seen by some as being merely a sop to right wingers. But the rest of Asia, and the world at large, should not assume that this is so and that all is sweetness and light in Japan. Nor is it right to think that the only problems the region faces are an "over-assertive" China or a "rogue regime" in North Korea.