Japan's Cabinet approves larger military role

TOKYO — Japan took a step away yesterday from an American-drafted constitution that has long kept its military shackled, approving a plan to allow greater use of a force that was vanquished at the end of World War II.

In one of the biggest changes to Japanese security policy since the war, the Cabinet approved reinterpreting the constitution on military affairs.

The move will allow the military to help defend other nations in what is known as "collective self-defense."

Previous governments have said that Japan's war-renouncing constitution limits the use of force to defending Japan.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has made raising the country's military profile a cornerstone of his nationalist policies, pushed hard for the change. He cited a deteriorating security environment, notably China's military rise and North Korea's missile and nuclear threats.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei voiced Beijing's opposition at a daily briefing yesterday.

"Beijing opposes Japan's act of hyping the China threat," he said, adding that the new policy "raises doubts about Japan's approach to peaceful development."

About 2,000 opponents of the shift protested earlier yesterday outside Abe's office. They said any changes to the constitution should be made through a public referendum, not simply a Cabinet decision to reinterpret it.

"For 70 years, Japan has kept its peace with its constitution," said 67-year-old protester Toshio Ban. "What are we to do with that stupid man trying to trample over the precious constitution?"

Written under US direction after World War II, the 1947 constitution says the Japanese people "forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation." The clause was crafted to prevent a repeat of Japan's invasion and brutal occupation of wide swaths of Asia.

The interpretation of the ban has been relaxed over the years, starting with the introduction of a "police" force in 1950 during the Korean War, which became a military dubbed the Self-Defense Force in 1954.

The government has no immediate plans to change the constitution, which has remained unaltered since it came out. But Abe and subsequent governments will now be empowered to authorize greater military engagement under the new interpretation of the charter.

Opponents say the new policy could open the door for Japan's eventual participation in joint military actions such as the war in Iraq.

Abe and other leaders of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party say Japan will stick to its pacifist pledge. An agreement with junior coalition partner New Komeito includes restrictions on when Japan can exercise collective self-defense.

The US, now allied with Japan, supports the move. The change could, for example, allow Japan's navy to protect a US warship from an attack.

Takeshi Iwaya, a lawmaker who chairs a ruling party research commission on security, said Japan has said it won't repeat the mistakes of World War II, but that alone is no longer enough to preserve peace.

"What we are trying to do now is to play a more proactive role in cooperating with regional countries in setting up a framework to protect the peace and stability of the region," he said in an interview.

Buddhist-backed New Komeito initially opposed the change, and yesterday's Cabinet decision came after weeks of negotiations between the two parties.