Advisers to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday called for a landmark change in security policy, urging the government to lift a ban that has kept Japan from fighting abroad since World War II.
Citing an increasingly tough security environment, the private advisers delivered a report urging a change to a long-standing interpretation of the post-war, pacifist constitution that says Japan has the right to defend itself with the minimum force necessary, but that combat abroad exceeds that limit.
“We have reached a situation in which we cannot sufficiently maintain our country’s peace and security, or realize peace and prosperity of the region and international society under the current interpretation of the constitution,” the report by Abe’s handpicked advisers said.
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A lifting of the ban on “collective self-defense” would be welcome to Japan ally the US, but would draw criticism from China, amid strained Tokyo-Beijing ties damaged by a territorial row and the legacy of Japan’s wartime aggression.
Abe was set to comment on the report at a news conference later in the day, but has already made clear his desire to loosen the limits of the US-drafted charter.
However, doubts remain about how far and how quickly he can go. His Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) junior partner, the New Komeito, is wary about the move, voters are divided and the LDP’s deputy leader is worried about the impact on polls this year and the next.
Previous governments have said Japan has the right of collective self-defence under international law, but that the constitution’s pacifist Article 9 prohibited taking such action.
Abe’s advisers argue that Japan’s security environment, including an increasingly assertive China and volatile North Korea, requires a more flexible approach.
Abe would like to embody the change in a Cabinet resolution followed by revisions to relevant laws. A wholesale lifting of the ban soon appears unlikely, although critics say even small changes would open the door to more drastic moves.
The government is expected to select some scenarios from those cited in the advisers’ report and Abe will instruct the ruling parties to start discussing options for change.
Examples of those scenarios include protecting a US warship under attack in waters near Japan; mine-sweeping in sea-lanes in a conflict zone; and intercepting a ballistic missile headed for the US.
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