Tokyo, Sept. 24 (Jiji Press)–A project team of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party compiled on Thursday a draft proposal calling for the introduction of a permit system for the acquisitions of land near facilities deemed critical for national security. In the draft, the team on national security and land-related legislation also urged the government to ban individuals working for foreign governments from acquiring such land. The current critical land survey law focuses on regulating the use of land around important facilities and does not prohibit land acquisition itself. In the draft, the team under the party’s Headquarters for Foreign Nationals Policy said that the existing law has limits because it may not be able to respond to the new security environment. Among specified important facilities stipulated under the law, the team urged the government to introduce a permit system for the acquisitions of land near facilities that are considered vulnerable to drone attacks and therefore require special protection. Potential land buyers with any nationality will be subject to screenings under the proposed permit system. Meanwhile, the draft calls on the government not to allow the transfer of land ownership to those who have an obligation to cooperate with foreign governments based on contracts with them or foreign laws and regulations, noting that such individuals are security concerns. It also sought the addition of the Imperial Palace, the country’s parliament building and the prime minister’s office, all located in central Tokyo, to the government’s list of critical facilities under the law, alongside Self-Defense Forces facilities and U.S. military bases in Japan. The project team also proposed that a bill to create a new law to monitor groundwater use nationwide and a bill to revise the national land use planning law to improve information gathering on land use be submitted to next year’s ordinary parliamentary session. It also called for tax measures to curb speculative real estate transactions amid soaring condominium prices. The government plans to submit a bill to revise the critical land survey law to an extraordinary parliamentary session seen beginning Oct. 5. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
