The Defense Agency is planning to seek revision of the Self-Defense Forces Law to enable the Maritime Self-Defense Force to send ships to deal with conflicts in Japanese waters without waiting to obtain a request from the Japan Coast Guard, agency sources said Sunday.
The move came after an unidentified ship was sunk last month in the East China Sea after being fired on by two coast guard patrol vessels. The agency plans to submit to the ordinary Diet session opening Jan. 21 a bill that would revise the SDF law.
Criticism has been growing about how the situation was handled as it took MSDF ships 10 hours to reach the site. By the time the MSDF vessels arrived, the ship had already sunk.