Japan PM to pitch security change to divided voters, wary partner

By Linda Sieg and Nobuhiro Kubo TOKYO (Reuters) - Would Japan send its military to defend the Philippines if it was attacked by China? That's the kind of question Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could well face as he pushes for a landmark change to security policy. Abe's private advisers will on Thursday present him with a report urging a loosening of legal limits on Japan's military, including an end to a decades-old ban on helping allies under attack that has kept Japanese forces from fighting abroad since World War Two. The report, a draft of which was obtained by Reuters, sets the stage for Abe to make a pitch for a historic change in a defense policy that has long been based on the principle that Japan has the right to defend itself with the minimum necessary force, but that combat abroad exceeds the limit.

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