The government might enable Self-Defense Force personnel engaged in U.N. peacekeeping missions to go to the aid of other countries' troops if they are under attack, sources in the Abe administration said Saturday.
The move is part Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to enact legal changes linked to SDF personnel participating in U.N. peacekeeping operations. Abe wants to allow SDF peacekeepers to rescue U.N. and other civilian personnel under attack in areas other than where the SDF are deployed.
The government plans to explain the proposal to a meeting of ruling coalition lawmakers soon, possibly on Tuesday, with the intention of submitting a bill to the Diet this fall to revise the law on SDF participation in U.N. peacekeeping.