Prime Minister Shinzo Abe¡¯s advisory panel on security Thursday released a much-awaited report that pushes for changing the government¡¯s interpretation of the Constitution to legalize the use of collective self-defense.
Later in the day, Abe ordered the ruling coalition to begin policy talks next week on the proposed change.
Whether New Komeito, the junior partner in the coalition with Abe¡¯s Liberal Democratic Party, will bow to his demand and accept the proposal remains to be seen. But given his obvious determination and the LDP¡¯s overwhelming strength in both chambers of the Diet, Buddhist-backed New Komeito might strike a compromise that would allow the Cabinet to lift the long-standing ban on exercising the right as early as this fall, before the next Diet session starts.
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