Abe presses ahead on collective self-defense
Baku, February 9 (AZERTAC). Japanese corporate executives doing business with China as well as diplomats stationed in Japan and neighboring countries are probably breathing a sigh of relief now that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has dialed down his hawkish stance from the campaign trail in December and has instead focused on stimulus measures to boost the sagging economy.
However, Abe appears to be pushing at least one of his pet conservative — and controversial — goals, even though he faces the all-important Upper House election this summer: reinterpreting the Constitution’s war-renouncing Article 9 to reinforce the Japanese-U.S. military alliance.
“I will mull new ways to cope with the new security situation surrounding Japan,” Abe said during a Diet session last week.
On Friday, a government policy advisory panel on security issues will reconvene for the first time since Abe’s previous stint as prime minister nearly six years ago.
By launching the panel ahead of his summit with U.S. President Barack Obama, scheduled for later this month, Abe is signaling his determination to strengthen the bilateral alliance.
The panel during Abe’s first prime ministership compiled a report on how Japan should be allowed to exercise the right of collective self-defense in four limited cases but failed to submit it to him before he abruptly resigned, citing health reasons.
According to that report, Japan should be allowed to shoot down a ballistic missile flying over Japan possibly toward the United States, to defend U.S. military ships on the high seas that are engaged in joint operations with the Maritime Self-Defense Force, to defend allied troops in U.N.-led peacekeeping operations and to provide logistic support for U.N.-led troops using military force.
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