A private advisory panel to Prime Minister Naoto Kan submitted a report Aug. 27 calling for changing Japan from a "passive peace-loving nation" to a "proactive peace-loving nation." The panel was formed in view of a planned revision of the defense program outline — a guideline for building up defense capabilities.
The panel says that while the current situation does not warrant relaxation of Japan's nonnuclear principle, it would not be wise to bind the hands of the United States with the principle. It also calls for relaxing Japan's arms export ban to let Japanese firms take part in international weapons development projects.
As for Japan's basic defense posture under which Japan limits the buildup of defense capabilities to the minimum level needed to cope with "limited, small-scale invasion" while depending on the Japan-U.S. security arrangement to deal with larger threats, the panel terms it a "thing of the past."