The Defense Ministry will explain its plans to boost the amphibious and pre-emptive strike capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces in its interim revision of Japan's long-term defense policy, ministry sources said Sunday.
The move underscores the focus the ministry is putting on defending the nation's outlying islands as tensions with China continue to simmer over the Senkaku Islands dispute.
The interim report for revising the National Defense Program Guidelines drafted by the former government led by the Democratic Party of Japan is expected to be disclosed by the end of the month after Sunday's House of Councilors election, the sources said.