The security environment in Japan’ s neighbourhood has dramatically deteriorated in recent times. China’s assertiveness in regional territorial issues and
demonstration of muscular power to assert its claims, North Korea’s nuclear and missile launches, and US President Donald Trump’s pressure on Japan to shoulder
greater security burden are the three compelling factors that are propelling the Abe administration to address appropriately how to respond to the new challenge
confronting Japan. In order to do that, the country’s ‘peace constitution’, particularly Article 9, is constraining Abe in his objective to enact laws that could address to the
new challenge. Given the strong anti-military and anti-nuclear sentiment in the country and given the difficult procedure to amend the Constitution, the best the Abe
government is able to do is to reinterpret the peace clause to achieve his objective without actually enacting any amendment in the document. Even this measure to
collective self-defence is thorny. There is no consensus among political parties too.
Debate on Collective Self-Defence and Constitutional Revision in Japan
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