An interim report that Japan and the United States has issued for revising the guidelines on bilateral defense cooperation shows that geographical restrictions on the activities of the Self-Defense Forces in supporting the operation of the U.S. military will be removed and that the scope of the SDF's missions will greatly expand — a major departure from the SDF's current main task of defending Japan against an enemy attack.
While the report does not cite specifics on how Japanese and U.S. forces will cooperate under collective self-defense arrangements, it says the Abe administration's Cabinet decision to reinterpret the Constitution to lift the long-standing ban on Japan engaging in such an operation will be "appropriately reflected" in the revised guidelines due out early next year.
The government plans to submit legislation to the Diet next year to flesh out the major changes in Japan's defense posture as outlined in the decision by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet in July. But before the legislations are debated in the legislature, Tokyo and Washington are moving toward changing the scope of bilateral defense cooperation through talks between foreign and defense bureaucrats.