Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has made clear his disapproval of the long-standing controversial collective self-defense right, the Tokyo Daily reported on Wednesday.

The Japanese government's consistent position has been that the collective self-defense right is not allowed by the pacifist Constitution, and the position remains, Fukuda said Tuesday at the Diet's lower house budget committee meeting.

Japan must be prudent on deciding what international activities are in accordance with the Constitution, the prime minister added.

Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was a hardliner on revising the Constitution to make it allow the nation's carrying out the collective self-defense right. His government launched in April a panel made up of former diplomats, scholars and former officials of Self-Defense Forces to build theoretic basis for circumventing the pacifist Constitution.

The collective self-defense right refers to the legitimacy of Japan's using of its armed forces to help defend its close allies when they are under military attack.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2007)