The Abe administration gave some ground Tuesday to New Komeito in the ninth round of the coalition defense talks, offering tougher conditions before Japan would be allowed to exercise the long-prohibited right to collective self-defense.
Debate between the ruling coalition partners has focused on three conditions for Japan to resort to the use of force initially put forward by Masahiko Komura, vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to include these criteria in the statement of authorization his Cabinet is going to approve.
Komura's original proposal said "Japan can wage military action when an attack on other country is feared to threaten the basis of Japan . . . there is no appropriate way to repeal these threats and protect those rights, and the action should remain within a minimum necessary scope."