Japanese PM backs constitutional changes
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-01 11:36

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday that Japan's pacifist constitution should be changed so the country can legally maintain an armed military force and beef up its national security.

Koizumi's comments were in support of proposed changed introduced by his ruling party last week.

"Can we defend our country with an organization that has no war capability? It is impossible by common sense," he said in a speech to fellow members of the Liberal Democratic Party.

The LDP has proposed a constitutional change that would create an official role for the Japanese military to assist military allies and help with armed international peacekeeping. That concerns its Asian neighbors, who are wary of a revival of Japanese militarism.

Japan's current constitution �� drafted by U.S. occupation forces after World War II and unchanged since 1947 �� bars the country from using military force in international disputes and prohibits it from having a military for warfare.

But Japan has interpreted the non-war clause in Article 9 of the constitution to mean it can maintain a 240,000-strong Self-Defense Force.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who is also president of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), delivers a speech during a LDP meeting in Tokyo November 30, 2005. [Reuters]

In 1992, the government presented a further interpretation that enabled the dispatch of troops to participate in international peacekeeping operations in noncombat roles.

Japan currently has about 600 non-combat troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah to purify water and rebuild schools. The mission, Japan's largest overseas deployment since World War II, expires Dec. 14.

The government has not decided whether to renew it.

Opposition lawmakers and pacifist activists say the government has stretched its interpretation of the charter too far, and the Japanese defense forces' capabilities and roles have gone beyond what is written in it.

"For many years, I've thought that the Article 9 should be revised to an expression that is easier to understand," Koizumi said.

The proposed LDP constitutional revision keeps the clause renouncing war but clearly states that Japan may keep a military force for self-defense and for participating in international peacekeeping.

The change is part of a general push by Koizumi's government to boost Japan's military role and international profile. The LDP has long campaigned to replace the U.S.-drafted constitution with Japan's own.

The LDP will have to discuss the proposed changes with its junior coalition partner, the New Komei Party, and opposition leaders.

A proposal for a constitutional revision requires two-thirds support in the lower house, which the ruling party alone does not have.