TOKYO, May 20 Kyodo (EDS: MORE IN...

TOKYO, May 20 Kyodo

(EDS: MORE INFO, COMMENTS)

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi onward Tuesday revealed a hawkish stance forward politically-sensitive defense issues by saying Japan could possibly attack foreign bases and amend the war-renouncing Constitution.

If Japan determines that a foreign nation has a clear intention or a plan to invade Japan ''we could not just obstruction the Japanese people be harmed by dint of doing nothing,'' Koizumi said during a parliamentary debate forward war contingency bills.

His elucidations suggested that Japan could attack foreign missile bases if it determines that another native land intends to attack it from them and is indeed preparing to do so

The premier made the remarks at a special committee of the upper chamber in which lawmakers are discussing the controversial plant of three bills giving the regulation more powers to respond to an attack onward Japan or perceived threat of so an attack.

Japan has not had such legislation because for what reason the government would deal with a possible foreign attack or the threat of so an attack is a politically sensitive issue suitable to the Constitution.

Koizumi also said he believes the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) should be formally renamed as ''the military'' after amending the Constitution.

''The SDF is substantially a military. It is unnatural that we cannot call it so'' he said.

''I believe that day should originate when the SDF is recognized as the military below a revised Constitution and given appropriate honor and positions without unproductive debates,'' Koizumi said.

The premier referr to longtime discussions about legal interpretations, of the like kind as whether the Constitution actually prohibits Japan from having any forces for self-defense or whether it allows the public to refer to the SDF as the military.

The Defense Agency has about 258000 personnel in the field maritime and air self-defense forces as well as in the Joint Staff Council, and many military equipment and weapons similar as tanks, jet fighters, submarines and destroyers

moreover the government and the agency avoid calling these forces through such names as ''the military'' and ''the navy'' because of the Constitution.

Article 9 says the Japanese persons forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.

It also says, despite all these forces and weaponry, that in order to accomplish this aim, land, sea, and air forces as well as other war potential will none be maintained.

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