Japan constitution draft clarifies military status

Japan's main ruling party recommended preserving the country's pacifist ideals while formally recognising the right to have a military in its initial proposal for revising the constitution released on Monday. Efforts to alter the constitution, never revised since its adoption in 1947, have mounted as Japan seeks a bigger global security role and conservative politicians grow frustrated with the restrictions imposed by its pacifist Article 9.
But with Asian neighbours that were victims of Japan's wartime aggression watching warily and more than half of Japanese voters still opposed to changing Article 9, the process is politically and diplomatically touchy.
The first clause of the US-drafted document's Article 9 renounces the right to war as a means of resolving international disputes. The second clause prohibits a military, but has been interpreted as allowing armed forces for self-defence.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is working on a draft of a new constitution ahead of the party's 50th anniversary in November.
"We will include that our country's pacifist principles are unchanged and that we view highly the international trust and achievements gained by post-war Japan as a pacifist state and that we will continue to place importance in this," said an LDP panel which unveiled recommendations on security-related matters.
"We will also clearly state the point that (Japan) will proactively make efforts toward peace in the international community," the proposal said.
"Japan will maintain a self-defence military ... The self-defence military can contribute to international peace and stability," it said, adding that provisions would be included to ensure civilian control of the military.
However, the party has not decided on the exact language it wants in a revised Article 9, including whether any change should be made to the war-renouncing first clause, an LDP lawmaker said.
"We have not discussed at all ... whether that will be changed or unchanged," Yoichi Masuzoe, vice-chairman of the LDP panel working on revisions to Article 9, told reporters.
Japan, which has around 240,000 military personnel including its army, navy and air force, has an annual defence budget that is among the largest in the world and that is roughly the same size as Britain's.
BLURRY DETAILS: Regardless of the exact wording, the LDP wanted to stress that Japan would stick to its pacifist principles, so as not to stoke concerns among Asian neighbours, Masuzoe said.
"We are not doing this to embark on militarism. We regard the post-war pacifist state highly and this will definitely not change. War is being renounced ... We don't want to cause worries among Asian countries," Masuzoe said.
The proposal made no explicit reference to the right to engage in collective self-defence, or aiding allies who come under attack. Masuzoe said this was because the term "self-defence" includes the notion of collective self-defence.
Successive Japanese governments have interpreted the constitution as prohibiting Japan from exercising the right to collective self-defence.
The omission may be an effort by the LDP to make it easier to gain broad political support, since changes to the constitution require a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament.
They also require approval by a simple majority of voters in a national referendum, and some say the high hurdles mean the process could take several years.
Masuzoe denied that the reference to making efforts for international peace was intended to make it easier for Japan to send its military abroad.
"This is written in the sense that peace ... can't be achieved in the broad sense without efforts such as fighting poverty," he said, adding that views were divided on whether to include such aims in Article 9 or in the preamble of the constitution.
Japan has sent troops on peace-keeping operations and now has some 550 on a non-combat mission to help rebuild Iraq, Japan's biggest and riskiest operation since World War Two.
Critics have said the Iraq mission violates the constitution.
Other panels made recommendations on such issues such as the judicial system, the role of the emperor and citizens' rights and duties. One committee proposed adding references to Japan's "geography, nature, history and culture" in the constitution's preamble to promote pride as Japanese.