Overview
- Leaders from the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party agreed on Tuesday to begin practical, project-team level security talks in November to prepare revisions to the National Security Strategy and two related documents.
- The talks will be led by LDP security chair Hamada Yasuichi and Ishin security chair Maehara Seiji and will start with a government briefing on the basic policy approach.
- The biggest dispute is how much to raise defence spending and where to find the money to pay for it, an issue the parties expect to place at the center of negotiations.
- Other key questions for the consultations include whether to re-examine the non-nuclear three principles, the possibility of introducing nuclear-powered submarines, and how to address AI, unmanned systems and wording on threats from China, Russia and North Korea.
- Planners intend these talks to be shorter and narrower than the 2022 review because both parties already submitted proposals, so the PTs are meant to align positions for final government decisions rather than make those decisions themselves.