By Clint Richards
Japan’s ruling coalition appears no closer to Cabinet approval than when talks started last month.
Alongside a raft of economic proposals reported in the press, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling LDP government is also pressing its junior coalition partner, New Komeito, for progress on collective self-defense. Abe is eager to have this reinterpretation of Article 9 of the Constitution agreed before the end of the current Diet session on June 22. However, New Komeito is proving to be unyielding in its resistance to such far-reaching changes.
In light of the slow progress of the coalition’s talks, the LDP has withdrawn the previous criteria that would allow for Self-Defense Forces to provide logistical support to multinational forces, and instead proposed three new conditions. According to the Japan News, during coalition talks last Friday, the government suggested these three conditions: “The SDF will not provide logistic support in a zone where there is already ongoing combat, it will immediately suspend support and leave an area if it becomes a combat zone, and it will be allowed to conduct search and rescue operations in combat zones for humanitarian purposes as exceptions.”
These conditions are in response to New Komeito’s strong opposition to previous criteria the LDP had proposed for the use of SDF support. The key difference now in deciding if the SDF will be able to provide assistance, is whether or not combat has already begun. The Japan News reported that New Komeito promised to look into the new conditions, and that the two partners began discussions on eight new scenarios that would require collective self-defense.
Read the full story at The Diplomat