Japan Is Preparing To Adopt A Pre-Emptive Military Strike Ability

Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force's 1st Airborne Brigade soldiers walks toward to a CH-47 helicopter for parachute drop training during their military drill at Higashifuji training field in Susono, west of Tokyo, July 8, 2013. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Japan Likely To Mull Pre-Emptive Strike Ability In Defence Update -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Japan is likely to start considering acquiring the ability to launch pre-emptive military strikes in an update of its basic defense policies, the latest step away from the constraints of its pacifist constitution.

The expected proposal, which will almost certainly sound alarm bells in China, is part of a review of Japan's defense policies undertaken by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, an interim report on which could come as early as Friday.

The hawkish Abe took office in December for a rare second term, pledging to bolster the military to cope with what Japan sees as an increasingly threatening security environment including an assertive China and unpredictable North Korea.

Article 9 of Japan's constitution, drafted by U.S. occupation forces after its defeat in World War Two, renounces the right to wage war and, if taken literally, rules out the very notion of a standing army. In reality, Japan's Self-Defense Forces are one of Asia's strongest militaries.

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My Comment: This is a seismic change in Japanese military/war strategy. Because of the Second World War Japan has always limited it's military by adopting a purely defense structure and doctrine for their armed forces. By acquiring the ability to launch a pre-emptive military strike is telling everyone in the region that Japan's pacifist constitution no longer applies.