Agence France-Presse,
Tokyo: Japan will consider allowing its military to shoot down a ballistic missile fired at the United States, a report said Saturday, as an exemption from its pacifist constitution. The constitution, imposed by the United States after its defeat of Japan in World War II, bans the use of force in settling international disputes.
While maintaining that Japan has the right to strict self-defence, successive governments have ruled out as unconstitutional so-called “collective self-defence” in which the country fight for allies under attack.
But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is leaning toward allowing Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defence in four cases, Kyodo News reported citing a government source.
These include the use of Japan's missile defence system against a ballistic missile attack on an allied country, such as the US, Kyodo said.
Abe's government, reputed for its drive to make Japan a more “assertive” nation proud of its history, is due to set up a panel of experts later this month to define exceptional cases in which Japan can fight for an ally under attack.
The other exceptional cases to be considered would be a counterattack when a warship sailing along with a Japanese vessel comes under attack, or when a military unit in a multinational forces are attacked, and in some situations when Japan is working as part of a UN peacekeeping operation.
