The government has decided to compile a bill to enable it to deploy the Self-Defense Forces overseas any time it deems necessary, aiming to submit it to the Diet next year, government sources said Saturday.
The government has already enacted a series of laws, including the antiterrorism law and the special law to support Iraqi reconstruction, to dispatch SDF troops overseas. But enacting the planned law would exempt the government from submitting bills to the Diet before sending the troops to foreign countries.
Such a bill would undoubtedly stir public concerns that it would go against Article 9 of the Constitution, which renounces the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes, analysts said.
The government has already established a special team within the Cabinet Secretariat to research how other countries have restricted the use of weapons when they send their troops overseas.