The ruling party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party, removed its pledge against war from its working policy revealed yesterday at the eighty-first annual convention of the party in Tokyo. The party intends to revise the Constitution of Japan to remove Article 9, which was implemented following the Second World War and outlaws the use of war as a means of settling international disputes involving the state.

Article 9 of the Japanese constitution not only outlaws war but also prohibits Japan from maintaining an army, navy, or air force. It is also interpreted to mean that Japan cannot have ICBMs, nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers or bomber fleets.

The restoration of Japan's war powers has been on the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's agenda for a long time. His strategy for bringing the country out of twenty years of stagnation is to combine reflation, stimulus, reform, and securitization.

Japan and its main rival in East Asia, China, are in dispute over which party has sovereignty of an uninhabited string of islands northeast of Taiwan. China has made multiple claims to the territory which is currently administered by Japan.

Japan has historically been under pressure by the United States to assume a larger part of the burden of defense of the western Pacific. Abe believes that a stronger Japan will be a more attractive ally to a United States that is growing increasingly close to China.

The other change to last year's policy made by the ruling party is the increased mention of honoring wartime dead, most notably the enshrined Class-A Japanese war criminals.

Some analysts say these changes are not surefire indicators of trouble in East Asia. Polls show that the majority of Japanese people reject the idea of Japanese militarism and laws limit defense spending to one-percent of the GDP.