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Move to amend Japan's pacifist Constitution

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which on Tuesday celebrated the 50th anniversary of its formation, has announced plans to amend the country's pacifist Constitution for a larger international role.

Prime Minister and the LDP's president Junichiro Koizumi presided over the celebrations. Leaders of the party's coalition partner, the New Komeito Party, and some foreign diplomats attended. Mr. Koizumi is understood to have reaffirmed his resolve on the path-breaking economic reforms. He won a massive mandate on this political platform in the general election held in September. While the New Komeito Party did not go the whole hog with its senior ally on the reforms, the LDP was reported to have issued a document that did not specifically call for the abrogation of the war-renouncing clause of the existing MacArthur-era Constitution of 1947.

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