Policy chiefs of the Liberal Democratic Party and would-be coalition partner New Komeito agreed Thursday that the two parties will push for defense legislation to cope with emergencies within Japan.
Chikara Sakaguchi, New Komeito's policy affairs chief, and Yukihiko Ikeda, his LDP counterpart, also agreed to consider measures to allow the Self-Defense Forces to guard key facilities, such as airports and nuclear power plants, within the current legal framework, Sakaguchi told reporters after their meeting.
They also agreed to push for SDF troops to be allowed to take part in a full range of United Nations-led peacekeeping operations. Currently their participation is limited mostly to logistic support.
Regarding the national pension program, Ikeda and Sakaguchi agreed that the government should guarantee that future recipients will get pensions of at least 60 percent of their salaries, and to use a portion of consumption tax revenue for pension funds.
The LDP and New Komeito are scheduled to finish their policy negotiations next week and begin tripartite policy talks with the LDP's current coalition partner, the Liberal Party, before launching a new coalition.