The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its two small non-Cabinet allies — the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake — began discussions April 8 on bills covering new defense cooperation guidelines between Japan and the United States.
The LDP hopes to submit the bills, which were drafted by the Defense Agency and the Foreign Ministry, to the Diet by the end of this month. It may be difficult to do so, however, because its two allies, especially the SDP, remain concerned that the bills may lead to a violation of Japan’s war-renouncing Constitution.
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