Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Japan contemplating pre-emptive strike capability

Japan is not considering revising its pacifist, U.S.-drafted constitution so that the world's second-biggest economy can play a greater security role abroad; Japan is going for pre-emptive strike capability. #msg-4150532

Along with Japan the pre-emptive club would include Australia, the United States, Russia, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan, North Korea, South Korea and China.
#msg-4076677

-Am

Panel finds Japan needs ability to hit enemy bases, media say

2004-10-02 / Reuters /
A Japanese defense ministry panel has urged that the military be given the capability to launch pre-emptive strikes, a move that would deviate from Japan's long-held defense-only policy, media said yesterday.

The panel will recommend in a report that the military have the weapons necessary to attack foreign enemy facilities, such as ballistic missile launch sites, Kyodo news agency said, quoting sources close to the panel.

The report by the panel, chaired by the defense minister, will serve as a draft in a government overhaul of military strategy to be completed by the end of this year.

The recommendation is expected to spark debate as it would be a move away from Japan's current policy of limiting its military capability to a purely defensive one.

"A pre-emptive strike would go beyond what current government policy and Article Nine of the Constitution allows," said Takehiko Yamamoto, political science professor at Tokyo's Waseda University.

Article Nine of the postwar constitution renounces the right to go to war and forbids a military, although it is interpreted as permitting forces for self-defense.

Japan's present defense policy is to rely on the United States to attack enemies on its behalf and have the Self-defense Forces, as its military is known, defend the country.

While the government holds the view it has the right to hit enemy bases, the SDF does not have weapons capable of carrying out such attacks.

Kyodo said the report would suggest that the SDF be equipped with surface-to-surface missiles with a range of several hundred kilometers and with modified anti-ship missiles able to hit targets on land.

The panel's suggestions reflect strong concerns regarding North Korea's missile threat, Kyodo said.

In March 2003, then defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament it was worth considering boosting Japan's military capabilities so it could strike foreign missile bases.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rejected the suggestion at the time, but public concerns over North Korea's ballistic missiles remain strong.

North Korea shocked the world when it fired its Taepodong ballistic missile over Japan in 1998, and experts believe it has deployed as many as 200 Rodong missiles, which have a range of about 1,300 kilometers, capable of hitting most of Japan.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/Asia/2004/10/02/1096689154.htm