Japan flexes muscles

[bpilgrim]

By MARTIN WALKER
UPI Editor

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party marked its 50th anniversary Tuesday with a new draft national constitution that would give the country the right to raise and deploy full-scale military forces for the first time since World War Two. And in the process, it drew attention to just how fast, and how alarmingly, the Asia-Pacific security situation has changed.

Japan's post-war constitution, drafted by the occupying American forces, committed Japan to pacifism and limited its military clout to a "self-defense force" -- although at $45 billion last year, its defense spending was on a par with that of Britain.

The status of Japan's military is being boosted to allow the country to play a greater geopolitical role to match its weight as the world's second-largest economy after the United States. The Japanese government is also to establish a full-scale Defense Ministry, upgraded from the modest agency without cabinet rank that has run the SDF for the last six decades.

The economic rise of China and Beijing's ambitious defense modernization program, along with Japanese alarm at North Korea's nuclear ambitions, inspired this major re-assessment of Japan's national security strategy, and led it to tighten its defense bonds with the United States ally. The draft new constitution specifically authorizes the government to extend military support to allies and to engage in international security operations.

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