As Japan considers updating its missile defense policy, including a proposal to approve enemy base strike capabilities to deter attacks, experts warn such a decision could backfire and raise tensions in East Asia.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party last month proposed that Japan consider "possession of the ability to intercept ballistic and other missiles even in the territory of an opponent," a controversial suggestion in light of Japan's war-renouncing Constitution and its exclusively defense-oriented policy.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to call for deepening discussion on the proposal before he steps down later this month, and Yoshihide Suga, Abe's right-hand man and front-runner in the race to succeed him as LDP president and the country's leader, is almost certain to follow Abe's position.