Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2012 July 25 - 31 [SDF]

PM echoes LDP call for Japan’s right to collective self-defense

Echoing the Liberal Democratic Party’s call for the use of armed force abroad, Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko is hinting at changing Japan in a direction so as to be able to exercise the right to collective self-defense.

The move under a de-facto grand coalition between the ruling Democratic Party and the largest opposition LDP-Komei force would nullify the belligerency-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.

An outline of what the LDP stated on July 6 in regard to national security enables Japan to resort to force if countries closely connected with Japan are under military attack even if Japan is not under threat of attack.

Separately, the LDP submitted to the Diet another bill allowing Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to use weapons if needed during so-called policing activities abroad.

An LDP Dietmember said, “This is a pressing issue because SDF personnel have already been operating in South Sudan where public security is unstable.”

A former Cabinet minister said, “Under the DPJ government, Japan-U.S. relations of trust have become confused. The LDP’s drafting of the bills reaffirms the importance of the Japan-U.S. security alliance and clarifies the bilateral requirement.”

A former high-ranking government official said, “A strategy is in place between Japan’s Maritime SDF and the U.S. Navy to work together to stop maritime military threats such as Chinese submarines from entering the Pacific. The LDP is attempting to draft a national security bill in response to the formation of this strategy. It is similar to the ‘dynamic defense force’ of SDF deployment to southwestern islands as called for by the DPJ.”