U.S. says Japanese Constitution limits close defense ties+

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 Kyodo -
Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and Tokyo's interpretation of it
restrict close defense cooperation between Japan and the United States, a
recent U.S. congressional report says.
Against the backdrop of the North Korean missile threat, the report titled
''The U.S.-Japan Alliance,'' which was compiled Jan. 18 by the Congressional
Research Service of the Library of Congress, says Japan's Self-Defense Forces
could not respond to a missile attack if the U.S. side were targeted, although
the two countries have been integrating their missile defense operations.
In a section subtitled ''Constitutional and Legal Constraints,'' the report
cites Article 9 as ''the most prominent and fundamental'' of legal factors that
''could restrict Japan's ability to cooperate more robustly with the Untied
States.''
It also says Japan's 1960 interpretation that the Constitution forbids
collective self-defense ''is also considered an obstacle to close defense
cooperation.''
''As the United States and Japan increasingly integrate missile defense
operation, the ban on collective self-defense...raises questions about how
Japanese commanders will gauge whether American forces or Japan itself is being
targeted,'' it says, adding, ''Under the current interpretation, Japanese
forces could not respond if the United States were attacked.''
During a visit to China in January, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said
North Korea could pose a ''direct threat'' to the United States in five years
or less as it ''will have developed an intercontinental ballistic missile
within that time frame.''
The report says former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had spoken about the
need to reconsider legal restrictions but efforts to alter the interpretation
stalled after his resignation in 2007.
Referring to Japan's divided parliament since the Democratic Party of Japan,
which took power in 2009, lost control of the upper chamber last July, the
report says, ''Tokyo has struggled to advance national security issues that
would help to improve the alliance relationship.''
''Ambitious plans like amending Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, passing
a law that would allow for a more streamlined dispatch of Japanese troops, or
altering the current interpretation of collective self-defense are far more
difficult to accomplish given the political gridlock,'' it says.
==Kyodo