Japan Defense Policy Breaks Cautiously with Past

[54anickel]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7049515&pageNumber=0

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan unveiled a revamped defense policy on Friday that eases a decades-old ban on arms exports and, in carefully couched words, suggests a shift from the purely defensive posture in place since its defeat in World War II.

The first sweeping review of defense policy in nearly a decade envisions a bigger Japanese role in global military cooperation and better response to terrorist and missile attacks, but steered clear of proposing pre-emptive strike capability.

Japan -- the only country to suffer an atomic bomb attack -- maintained its ban on nuclear weapons as well as its focus on the alliance with the United States as the core of its security.

"Abiding by the basic principle under Japan's constitution, our country, devoting itself entirely to self-defense, will never threaten other countries or become a military power," the government said in its new National Defense Program Outline.

Any sign of Japan moving toward possessing a pre-emptive strike capability would disturb Asian neighbors including China, where memories of Japan's past militarism run deep.

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