Japan closer to relaxing the limits on its military

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe moved closer to easing constitutional curbs that have kept Japan’s military from fighting abroad since World War II after the ruling party’s dovish 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, the junior party 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 party officials agreed Friday to consider a proposal that would allow the change while theoretically limiting cases where it may be implemented. “I want to discuss this thoroughly within the party,” New Komeito Deputy Chief Kazuo Kitagawa said after the latest round of talks, at which his Liberal Democratic Party counterpart Masahiko Komura submitted the 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 never engaged in combat since its defeat in World War II. But rival China, locked in bitter disputes with Japan over territory and wartime history, would almost certainly criticize it and interpret it as a sign that Tokyo, rather than Beijing, is ramping up regional tensions.

Pressure on New Komeito has been increasing from Abe, whose drive to relax the constraints of the U.S.-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 from an increasingly assertive China and a volatile North Korea.

New Komeito leaders had ruled out leaving the coalition over the proposed change, which critics say would gut Article 9.

“While furthering debate and deepening the people’s understanding, I want to ... aim at an agreement,” New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi told a parliamentary panel.

Yamaguchi has been among the most cautious New Komeito lawmakers toward the change.

Successive governments have said Japan has the right to so-called collective self-defense under international law but that exercising that right exceeds the bounds of the constitution.

Reuters