The government has decided to limit the operational scope of the system, to be purchased from the United States and deployed by fiscal 2007, because intercepting missiles targeted at other countries could be construed as collective defense.

According to the government's interpretation, Japan has the right under international law to collective defense -- the right to use force to counter a foreign attack on an allied country -- but the war-renouncing Constitution forbids the exercise of that right.

Political analysts say that the United States is unlikely to accept such a decision because it would mean Japan would not take action against missiles aimed at U.S. territory.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 15, 2005
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