Abe eyes allowing Japan forces to defend U.S. in missile attacks

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is leaning toward allowing Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense — currently banned in line with an official interpretation of the Constitution — in a limited number of cases such as a ballistic missile attack against the United States, a government source said Saturday.

The government is expected to form a panel of handpicked experts later this month to conduct detailed discussions on four situations in which Japan could mobilize its forces when an ally comes under attack, with the aim of reaching a conclusion possibly this fall on whether to lift the self-imposed ban under those limited circumstances, according to the source.

The panel, chaired by former Japanese Ambassador to Washington Shunji Yanai, is expected to examine employing Japan's missile defense shield to intercept a ballistic missile targeted at an ally as well as staging a counterattack when a warship of another country sailing along with a Japanese Self-Defense Forces vessel comes under attack on the high seas, the source said.

These two cases are subject to a ban under the Cabinet Legislation Bureau's interpretation of the pacifist Article 9 of the Constitution on the grounds that either of them is tantamount to exercising the right to collective self-defense beyond the necessary minimum self-defense.

But calls for reviewing the interpretation for limited cases are growing around Abe, who is keen on bolstering Japan's lesser role in its bilateral security arrangement with the United States, the source said.

Abe may be hoping that mentioning such a move, even just for consideration, could help attenuate bilateral discord generated by his or other ruling lawmakers' remarks downplaying the Japanese military's role in running wartime brothels, ahead of his very first official trip to the United States in late April, observers said.

Critics say moves to expand the scope of Japan's missile defense and to enable Japan-U.S. joint vessel operations in the high seas may alarm other Asian countries, particularly China.

The two other cases are Japan staging a counterattack when another country's military units in multinational forces including Japanese troops working for a shared objective are attacked, and Japan using arms to eliminate obstacles to implementing duties as part of U.N. peacekeeping operations.

The government has said Japan inherently has the right to collective self-defense under international law but is prohibited from exercising it under Article 9 of its Constitution.

Reinterpretation of the article is a sensitive subject that may generate heated debate even within the governing coalition of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner the New Komeito party, which is highly cautious about Japan exercising the right to collective defense, and will also likely be a focus in the House of Councillors election slated for July.

Article 9 renounces Japan's right to wage war or to maintain armed forces.

Abe proposed in his first policy speech in September studying which specific cases of cooperation with an ally may be prohibited under the Constitution.

In a book published in July when he was chief cabinet secretary under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Abe questioned the ban on exercising the right, saying of the ban, "I wonder how long it can remain valid in the context of norms in the international community."

Japan and the United States agreed in a summit in November that they will reinforce and accelerate bilateral cooperation for building missile defense systems. Last month, Japan installed a land-to-air interceptor system north of Tokyo.