The Abe administration presented a draft statement Tuesday that would effectively allow Japan to exercise the long-prohibited right to collective self-defense, reflecting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's desire to have his Cabinet approve the change before the current Diet session ends Sunday.
Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Masahiko Komura, who has been chairing ruling coalition talks on security policy, said the secretaries-general of the two governing parties will discuss the schedule for the Cabinet's approval of the statement, but his New Komeito counterpart indicated they are unlikely to reach an agreement by the end of the Diet session.
"We have not even started party discussions on the draft. It would be hard to strike an agreement by Friday," the last working day before the legislative session's end, New Komeito Vice President Kazuo Kitagawa said after talks Tuesday, the seventh round since last month.