Japan PM moves closer to winning support for looser limits on military
Shinzo Abe's drive to change Japan's constitutional rules that prevent its military from engaging in combat progress with agreement from coalition partner
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe moved closer to easing constitutional curbs that have kept Japan’s military from fighting abroad since the second world war after the ruling party’s coalition partner agreed to consider a compromise proposal.
An agreement would be a big step toward achieving Abe’s goal of loosening the limits of the post-war, pacifist constitution.
The New Komeito Party, the junior partner in Abe’s ruling bloc, is wary of a dropping a ban on sending Japan’s military to aid a friendly nation under attack, but on Friday party officials agreed to consider a proposal that would allow the change while theoretically limiting cases in which it could be implemented.
“While furthering debate and deepening the people’s understanding, I want to ... aim at an agreement.”
“I want to discuss this thoroughly within the party,” New Komeito deputy chief Kazuo Kitagawa told reporters after the latest round of talks, at which his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) counterpart Masahiko Komura submitted the new proposal.
The United States and some Southeast Asian countries would welcome the change, which would mark a major shift in Japan’s post-war security policy. Japan’s military has not engaged in combat since its defeat in the second world war.
But rival China, locked in bitter disputes with Japan over territory and wartime history, would almost certainly criticise the policy change as a sign that Tokyo, rather than Beijing, is ramping up regional tensions.
Pressure has been mounting on New Komeito from Abe, whose drive to loosen the constraints of the US-drafted, post-war constitution is central to his conservative agenda. Conservatives say the charter’s war-renouncing Article 9 has hindered Japan’s ability to defend itself as a sovereign nation.
Advocates of a new interpretation also argue the change is vital to cope with security threats including those from an increasingly assertive China and a volatile North Korea.