Kyodo News International May 7, 2014 2:12am

Japan keen to lift ban on collective self-defense, Abe tells NATO

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his resolve Tuesday to push for a change to the government's current interpretation of the Constitution and lift a self-imposed ban on collective self-defense.

Abe indicated during a speech to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's decision-making body that there are limits to the activities of Japan's Self-Defense Forces under the current interpretation of the country's pacifist Constitution.

Based on the current interpretation, Japan cannot exercise the right to collective self-defense, or defend an ally under armed attack, given the constraints of Article 9 that forbids the use of force to settle international disputes.

Under this context, the SDF cannot protect U.S. Aegis ships in open seas near Japanese waters when the ships are under attack, Abe said. He also said that SDF troops working together with NATO members in U.N. peacekeeping operations cannot defend NATO troops when they are under attack by guerillas.

Abe, who is in Brussels as part of a six-nation European tour, said a security panel which he initiated is discussing whether Japan can exercise this right.

Based on the panel's report, his government will decide on a policy which would map out Japan's contribution to global peace-keeping operations and the necessary legal arrangements, he said.

Turning his eyes to China, Abe called Beijing's growing military assertiveness a concern of the international community and noted that China lacks transparency in its defense spending.

He was also critical of Beijing's frequent moves to change the status quo by force, pointing to Chinese patrol vessels' frequent intrusions into Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands, which it claims and calls Diaoyu, and China's unilateral declaration of an air defense identification zone over parts of the East China Sea in November.

With the Japanese-administered Senkakus a source of continued tensions between Tokyo and Beijing, Abe reiterated the need for bilateral communication channels to avoid any contingency.

The premier, who also addressed NATO in 2007 during his first term in office, said he wants to see Japan and NATO, which share common values such as democracy and rule of law, working together.

On Ukraine, Abe said the most important thing is to ease tensions in the eastern region and he promised that Japan will support Ukraine's presidential election later this month.

==Kyodo

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