Japan To Consider Fighting For Allies Under Attack

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is leaning toward allowing Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defence in four cases - an attack against an ally, such as the US; when a warship sailing along with a Japanese vessel comes under attack; when a military unit in a multinational forces are attacked; in some situations when Japan is working as part of a UN peacekeeping operation.

by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) April 10, 2007
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.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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US Backs NATO Enlargement

Washington (UPI) April 10, 2007
On March 6 and 9 both houses of the U.S. Congress approved the "NATO Freedom Consolidation Act of 2007." The act follows in a long line of U.S. legislation adopted since 1994 that strongly backed NATO enlargement. Both former President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush supported, and have continued to support, NATO's open-door policy of enlargement. The NATO Freedom Consolidation Act of 2007 supports NATO's last enlargement into the Western Balkans and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

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