Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he wants to rewrite the country’s post-World War II pacifist constitution, including the clause that forever renounces war, in an interview published Wednesday. Abe, 52, is a long-time advocate of revising the constitution. But it is the first time since he became prime minister in September that he has made clear his intention to rewrite the war-renouncing Article 9. “I believe this article needs to be revised from the viewpoint of defending Japan,” Abe said told the London-based Financial Times. “Japanese people should themselves write a constitution that befits the 21st century,” he added.The US-imposed constitution bars Japan from maintaining a military ever again, although the country skirts the rule by calling its troops “Self-Defense Forces”.