Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2023 January 11 - 17 [POLITICS]

Komei Party supports Japan's acquisition of enemy-strike capabilities

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's coalition partner Komei Party is giving a boost to Japan's acquisition of the capability to preemptively attack enemy missile bases.

Komei's deputy leader Kitagawa Kazuo appeared on a BS 11 news program broadcast on January 12 and insisted that the possession of this capability does not contradict Japan's exclusively defense-oriented policy.

A program MC worried that Japan may have no choice but to launch a counterstrike for defense if Japan detects a sign of a potential missile strike from a neighboring country, and asked Kitagawa, "What do you think of this possibility?"

Kitagawa said, "We have judged that the counterforce capability is within the scope of Article 9 of the Constitution as well as of Japan's exclusively defensive posture."

He, however, did not mention anything about the standpoint successive Japanese governments have had since March 1959: To possess weapons capable of attacking another country or which may pose an offensive threat to other countries in peacetime is a violation of the constitutional principle opposing war.

Kitagawa insisted on the need for Japan to possess the capability to attack enemy missile bases in order to enhance a "deterrent", the logic that posing a threat to each other can prevent both sides from venturing to attack each other.