The ruling coalition will send a team of lawmakers to East Timor from Wednesday to study the possible participation of the Self-Defense Forces in a U.N. peacekeeping operation there, coalition officials said Friday.
The Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and New Conservative Party decided to send the team, led by Fumio Kyuma, acting chairman of the LDP's policy research council, to determine what exactly is needed in East Timor, the officials said.
The team is expected to depart from Narita airport Wednesday and arrive in East Timor the following day.
The team will talk with officials of the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor as well as local leaders and is scheduled to return to Japan on Sept. 22.
The tripartite ruling coalition plans to analyze what Japan is able to do under the current law regulating Japan's participation in the operations after the team returns to Japan and issues its report, the officials said.
The current law prohibits Tokyo from taking part in peacekeeping forces.