Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is stepping up his moves to change the government's traditional interpretation of the Constitution's war-renouncing Article 9, which holds that Japan cannot exercise the right to collective self-defense — the use of military power to repel attacks on a country that has close ties with Japan even if Japan is not directly attacked.
Mr. Abe's goal is for Japan to be able to exercise the right to collective self-defense. This, however, is a dangerous move that could eventually lead to the involvement of the Self-Defense Forces in overseas conflicts. Even if the change of the interpretation of Article 9 does not immediately lead to such a situation, it will raise suspicions about Japan's intentions in the international community, especially in Northeast Asia, and increase frictions with neighboring countries. In short, rather than enhance Japan's security, exercising the right to collective self-defense would likely undermine it.
To pave the way for changing the traditional interpretation of Article 9, Mr. Abe in August appointed Ambassador to France Ichiro Komatsu — who share's Mr. Abe's outlook — as the new head of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau. It is believed that after a private advisory body on the reconstruction of the legal basis of security issues a report in this fall, Mr. Abe will adopt a constitutional interpretation that allows Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense and include the new interpretation in the defense program outline, a guideline for long-term defense capabilities improvement to be adopted by the end of this year.