http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=385559
Panel urges gov't to allow collective self-defense, Fukuda unwilling
TOKYO, June 24 KYODO
A panel of experts reviewing Japan's legal foundations concerning security
matters urged the government Tuesday to change its interpretation of the
pacifist Constitution to allow its forces to exercise the right to collective
self-defense on certain occasions.
But Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said he has no plan to change the current
interpretation that the Constitution prohibits Japan from exercising the right
to defend an ally under attack, even though it is entitled to do so under
international law.
The group's report, presented to Fukuda by former Japanese Ambassador to
the United States Shunji Yanai who heads the government panel, calls for a
''new (constitutional) interpretation that conforms to the changes in the
security environment and is consistent with international law.''
A change in interpretation would allow the Maritime Self-Defense Force in
open waters to defend nearby U.S. vessels that are being attacked, even if the
Japanese ships themselves are not directly under fire, according to the report.
The scenario is one of four situations presented in May last year by then
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the panel as topics for discussion when he
attended the group's first meeting.
Although Abe worked on realizing his desire to reinterpret and revise the
Constitution during his one year in office, the issue had faded from the
limelight since the moderate Fukuda took over last September.
Fukuda told reporters at his office, ''I received it (the report) today
but haven't had a look at the contents, so I want to study it well from now.''
Asked if the government intends to change its interpretation of the
Constitution to allow the Self-Defense Forces to exercise their right to
collective self-defense, the Japanese leader said, ''I never talked about
changing it...It's written in the Constitution.''
The four situations also include whether it is appropriate for Japan to
use its missile defense system to intercept ballistic missiles targeting the
United States, with the panel saying such action would be possible by allowing
the SDF to exercise the right to collective self-defense.
On the remaining scenarios of whether Japan can use weapons to return fire
against attacks on other countries' military forces jointly working for U.N.
peacekeeping operations or provide rear-area support for countries taking part
in such operations, the panel says such actions should not be interpreted as
actions banned under the Constitution's Article 9.
Article 9 says Japan forever renounces ''war as a sovereign right of the
nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international
disputes.''
But Yanai said in briefing reporters that panel members shared the view
that the provision applies to cases in which Japan, as an individual state,
would settle ''international disputes'' and not when it acts as part of
U.N.-led peace cooperation activities.
The panel has completed its duties with the compilation of the report,
according to both Fukuda and Yanai.
==Kyodo
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