Japan's government panel drafts national security strategy outline

A Japanese government panel on security issues drafted Monday an outline of the countries new national security strategy with an eye on revising its arms embargo, according to local media. The outline said that Japan should contribute to improve security environment around the Asia-Pacific region and prevent contingency that will directly threaten the country through enhancing Japan-U.S. alliance and pushing forward substantial security cooperation. It said that Japan should rethink its self-imposed arms trade ban so as to beef up cooperation in developing defense equipment with other countries, Kyodo News reported. Under the weapons embargo principles, Japan has prohibited weapons sales to communist states, countries subject to embargo under U.N. resolutions and nations involved in international conflicts. The strategy is expected to be approved by the end of this year after its details are worked out by relevant ministers, said the report, adding the strategy, likely to cover about the next 10 years, is intended to guide the operations of a Japanese version of the U.S. National Security Council when it is established. After he came to power, Abe has expressed a strong desire to reinterpret Japan's Constitution and lift the ban on using force to settle international dispute. Many of Japan's neighbors, especially those suffered under its brutal colonial rule during World War II feared that such a move could alter the strategic balance in East Asia and beyond.