Ruling party lawmakers on Monday questioned Japan's plan to sign a defense logistics agreement with Australia that would enable the two countries to share food, fuel and other supplies and services, Senior Vice Defense Minister Kazuya Shimba said.
The government is considering submitting a bill during the current Diet session on the acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, and some members of the Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partners sought "careful handling" of the proposed legislation in view of Australia's antiwhaling policy.
A vessel of the antiwhaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and a Japanese whaling vessel collided in Antarctic waters earlier this month.
Shimba said the lawmakers pressed the government to further assert Japan's policy on whaling.
The Defense Ministry told the lawmakers that it believes the pact would be an important boost for military confidence between the two countries regardless of diplomatic problems, according to Shimba.
The only country that Japan currently maintains this type of logistics arrangement with is the United States.
A similar agreement with Australia would likely help expand the Self-Defense Forces' scope of international cooperation.
The agreement would allow the two countries to share transport of supplies as well as repair and other services for joint drills, U.N. peacekeeping operations and international humanitarian operations.
The SDF cooperated with the Australian military in the wake of the major earthquake off Sumatra, Indonesia, in 2004.