New report urges Japan to ease ban on collective self-defense

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 Kyodo - Japan must move to loosen its restrictions on collective self-defense in a bid to strengthen its alliance with the United States, according to a report
published by a U.S. think tank recently.
The report identifies the ban on collective self-defense as a ''fundamental''
question to be addressed as Tokyo and Washington seek to expand combined
operations in missile defense, the maintenance of air superiority, maritime
security and strike operations.
''Most important perhaps, Tokyo must address the obstacle of its restrictions
on collective self-defense,'' says the 44-page report, titled ''Securing
Freedom -- the U.S.-Japanese Alliance in a New Era.''
The ban, it says, means ''that Japan is today largely incapable of providing
assistance legally to the United States and other security partners, even in
the dire event of a missile attack against the American or Japanese
homelands.''
The report especially calls for Japan's removal of collective self-defense
prohibitions against defending U.S. naval and air forces with which it is
exercising antimissile operations and against intercepting missiles that are
headed toward the United States.
''The alliance would not survive a failure in this area, which is becoming ever
more important now that Japan has stood up its initial sea-based missile
defense capabilities,'' it says.
It also attaches importance to Tokyo's removal of collective self-defense
restrictions in the context of international security operations, permitting
its Self-Defense Forces to use force to protect coalition partners and against
enemies.
Japan takes the position that the country has the right to defend an ally under
attack but ''cannot exercise'' the right under the pacifist Constitution, a
legal interpretation disputed by some experts.
Whether Japan can exercise the right to collective self-defense has been a
politically sensitive issue in connection with the operations of the Japanese
SDF and the military of the United States, Japan's closest security ally.
The report was jointly authored by Michael Auslin, a resident scholar in Asian
studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in
Washington, and Christopher Griffin, a legislative assistant for defense policy
to Sen. Joseph Lieberman and a former AEI research fellow.
On air defense, it urges the United States to sell the state-of-the-art F-22A
Raptor stealth fighter jet to Japan ''in order to offset threats from China''
in Asia.
Tokyo, for its part, must return the favor by loosening arms export controls,
it said, adding such action ''will permit Japan to build upon its strong
defense-industrial capabilities.''
As for maritime security, the report cites the need for Japan and the United
States to ''commit to strengthening their antisubmarine warfare capabilities''
to fully grasp adversarial submarine fleets.
The report notes that despite its effort to allow for greater intelligence
sharing with Tokyo, Washington ''has been frustrated by the looseness of
Japan's secrecy laws and lack of a uniform classification of secrets and
security clearances.''
''A comprehensive overhaul of Japanese secrecy laws would engender confidence
in Washington that Japan could be brought into the pipeline of information
sharing, on a par with allies such as Great Britain and Australia,'' it says.
The report calls for the establishment of a Japanese version of the U.S.
National Security Council as helpful for Japan to further centralize
national-level policy formation.
''A Japanese National Security Council would fill these requirements,
particularly in having a permanent national security adviser, a dedicated
secretariat, authority to request information from governmental ministries, and
regular meetings,'' it says.
Tokyo once considered the idea of setting up its own NSC but later gave up due
to the difficulty of having a necessary bill passed by the divided Diet.
The report also points to the danger that political uncertainties in both
countries could pose to their relationship, predicting ''greater tension in the
short term'' over Japan's contributions to Iraq and lack of progress in
implementing the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.
''Overall, weak leadership in Japan and distracted leadership in America can
lead to miscommunication, lack of familiarity, and divergent political goals,''
it says.
==Kyodo