Japan PM advisers to review military constraints

TOKYO, Apr 25 (Reuters) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's advisers will review a self-imposed ban on defending an ally under attack, the government said today, a step that could lead to a lifting of the ban.

Abe has said in the past that the ban on collective self-defence, or helping an ally under attack, stood in the way of Japan's playing a greater global security role and forging a more equal partnership with the United States.

''As Japan contributes more to global peace and stability, we need to sort out its relationship to the constitution,'' Abe told reporters today, referring to the ban.

''We need thorough debate, including (whether to allow) exercising collective self-defence.'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said a panel of experts, including former defence and foreign ministry officials as well as academics, will hold an initial discussion next month and report their views to Abe this autumn.

The United States would welcome a lifting of the ban, and the announcement of the panel came a day before Abe heads to Washington for a two-day visit.

''If a decision is reached ... that allows more flexibility for Japan, then we think this is a good thing,'' former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told reporters after he met Abe today.

But Shiozaki said the creation of the panel did not mean the government had decided to change its current interpretation of Japan's pacifist constitution and lift the ban, adding that the timing of the announcement was coincidental.

Under the current interpretation, Japan would be unable to shoot down a ballistic missile that was headed not for its own soil but towards an ally such as the United States.

Japanese forces exercising with US forces or taking part in peacekeeping operations also cannot defend their American or other counterparts if they come under attack.

The panel would review such cases and make a recommendation as to whether to ease or lift the ban on collective self-defence, Shiozaki said.

Although Japan abandoned the right to wage war or maintain a military under the constitution's Article Nine, the article has been interpreted to allow forces solely for self-defence.

Abe has also made revision of the constitution one of his top policy goals, and a bill laying out procedures for revising the charter passed parliament's lower house earlier this month.

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