TOKYO — In a momentous step toward casting off Japan's postwar humility, the governing Liberal Democratic Party unveiled proposed constitutional changes Tuesday that would give the country's military forces a higher status and ease their deployment abroad in the name of "collective self-defense."
The LDP blueprint for a new constitution signals Japan's determination to reemerge as a major strategic power, and is seen as Tokyo's answer to the challenge raised by China's growing influence. Though stopping short of tampering with the clause in the pacifist constitution that renounces Japan's right to wage war, the changes would allow the Japanese to participate fully in global peacekeeping missions, as well as come to the aid of allies such as the United States or Taiwan if required.
Constitutional amendments would put a Japanese imprimatur on a document written by the occupying American forces and unaltered since it was adopted in 1947. The most controversial amendments affect the armed forces, now humbly called the Self-Defense Forces, or SDF, but boasting 240,000 troops and a budget roughly comparable to that of Britain's military. The LDP draft calls for the SDF to be officially recognized as the military force it is, and for the defense agency that controls it to be elevated to full Cabinet rank.
The proposals mark the start of what is sure to be a contentious reform process over the next year, both at home and abroad. Changes require a two-thirds majority in parliament, as well as approval in a national referendum. Debate on the proposals is likely to spark national soul-searching about whether to discard the pacifist cloak that has served Japan so well since the end of World War II -- and which polls show is still supported, albeit more mutedly in recent years.
An even greater outcry is anticipated from neighboring countries such as China and South Korea, already troubled by what they see as Japan's reluctance to acknowledge the crimes of its imperial past and wary of any sign of renewed Japanese militarism.
But the draft constitution arrives with Japan in the throes of one of its rare but historically potent euphorias for reform. It was presented in the celebratory atmosphere of the convention marking the 50th anniversary of the LDP's founding, at a moment when the party has just been returned to power with a massive mandate to radically transform the state's economic and political role.
