The Abe administration is examining whether it is possible to allow a high-ranking officer of the Self-Defense Forces to take command over international troops in a U.N. peacekeeping operation, a source said Monday.
The move follows the Cabinet decision July 1 to reinterpret the pacifist Constitution to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, giving the government more leeway to order the SDF to take a bigger, more proactive role in global security.
Japan has long refrained from sending an officer to command troops of other countries due to fears it might go against the constitutional interpretation prohibiting the SDF from integrating with the use of force by other countries, according to the source.