TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan should beef up its defensive capabilities given China's growing assertiveness and North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, and consider acquiring the ability to attack enemy bases, a Defense Ministry interim report on defense guidelines showed Friday.

In what could be a major shift in defense policy, the report also said Japan should strengthen the marine functions of the Self-Defense Forces and improve surveillance over remote islands, apparently including the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea where its ownership is being challenged by China.

The report placed priority on the U.S.-Japan security alliance as Tokyo and Washington are set to review their defense cooperation guidelines, but said the country should take on more responsibilities to respond to the changing security environment around it.

"Japan needs to enhance its ability to respond to ballistic missile attacks in a comprehensive manner," the report said in reference to missile development by North Korea, a country that has defied international calls to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will use the report as a basis for national guidelines scheduled to be compiled by the end of the year.

A Defense Ministry official said it would be necessary to discuss whether Japan should have the ability to attack an enemy base, but for "self-defense."

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera took the same view, saying that Japan "does not intend to launch preemptive attacks."

"We won't consider (the option of attacking enemy bases) until it becomes clear that Japan is under attack or in a situation where such threats exist," Onodera said at a press conference.

Fresh from a sweeping victory in Sunday's House of Councillors election widely seen as an endorsement of his economic policies dubbed "Abenomics," the prime minister is thought to be keen to put more weight on his other policies, including his long-held goal of amending the pacifist Constitution.

A government panel, resumed after Abe took office in December, is expected to finalize a report on whether to enable Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense so that its decision can be reflected in the guidelines, which will provide insights into Japan's defense posture over the next decade.

Still, some political analysts say Abe may need to tread carefully in order to maintain his relatively high public support while pushing ahead with unfinished business from his previous premiership, cut short after the crushing defeat of his Liberal Democratic Party in the 2007 upper house election.

For Tokyo, one of the main concerns is China, with the Defense Ministry saying in its white paper that China's "dangerous" maritime activities could lead to a "contingency."

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have frayed over the status of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Beijing has continued to send patrol aircraft and ships to waters near the Japanese-administered islets.

Japan scrambled fighter jets on Wednesday, after a Chinese aircraft was spotted flying between Okinawa Island and Miyako Island in what Abe described as "a peculiar incident." Five Chinese naval vessels passed through the same area on Thursday.

"It is essential to prepare equipment to detect at an early stage signs of changes in the security situation by conducting warning and surveillance activities over a wide area around Japan," the report said.

To boost aerial surveillance capabilities, Japan should equip the SDF with unmanned surveillance aircraft that can continuously monitor a wide area at a high altitude, the report said. While it did not mention a specific drone, Japan is believed to have the U.S. military's "Global Hawk" in mind.

The ministry also proposes that the SDF should get ready to dispatch personnel to remote islands with improved transport capabilities, with the introduction of the U.S. military's MV-22 Osprey aircraft being seen as an option.

The deployment of the tilt-rotor aircraft, however, sparked strong local opposition in Okinawa last year. More of the aircraft are expected to arrive at the Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture in late July, to be deployed eventually in Okinawa later this year.

The report also takes up Japan's long-standing arms embargo, imposed voluntarily to block shipments of weapons to communist states and conflict regions during the Cold War era, calling for a review and taking "appropriate measures" to keep pace with the times.

Should the policy, an unwritten rule, be abolished to facilitate joint development of weapons and nurture the domestic defense industry, it would mark a major change as the export ban has long received strong public support in postwar Japan.

The report included other proposals -- strengthening the roles of the SDF and improving its coordination with other authorities such as the U.S. military -- to respond to large-scale disasters based on the lessons learnt from the 2011 nuclear crisis triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami.

To counter security threats in cyberspace, the ministry calls for closer coordination with countries such as the United States and private-sector companies, given that advanced knowledge and technologies are essential.

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This news was published on July 26, 2013.

Source: http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130726p2g00m0dm071000c.html