LDP, JIP Arranging Talks on Revising 3 Security Documents This Year; Ruling Coalition Will Also Mull Abolishing Categories of Exportable Defense Equipment

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:00 JST, November 14, 2025

The Liberal Democratic Party and its ruling coalition partner the Japan Innovation Party are arranging to start discussions on revising three security-related documents, including the National Security Strategy, as early as within the year, according to multiple sources from both parties.

In the talks, the two parties will also discuss abolishing the system of five categories of exportable defense equipment established by the Implementation Guidelines for the Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology. Opinions will be compiled and submitted to the government.

The coalition agreement between the two parties states that they will work together to revise the three security-related documents ahead of schedule and abolish the five-category system during next year’s ordinary Diet session. Based on the agreement, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has stated her intention to have the documents revised within 2026.

“We will set up a discussion body [with the LDP] as soon as possible and exchange views,” said JIP coleader Fumitake Fujita at a press conference on Wednesday. On the same day, a senior LDP member also said, “We are already in the process of setting things up.”

The government’s current National Security Strategy sets a target of raising security-related expenditures to 2% of gross domestic product by fiscal 2027. However, Prime Minister Takaichi has expressed an intention to achieve the target within the current fiscal year, well ahead of schedule, using a supplementary budget.

The Implementation Guidelines stipulate that exports of finished defense equipment are limited to items for use in five types of activities — rescue, transportation, vigilance, surveillance and minesweeping.

With equipment that has powerful offensive capabilities, like escort vessels, excluded under the guidelines, such exports currently take the form of joint development with friendly countries.

Under the five-category system, there is only one case to date of Japan exporting finished equipment — an air defense radar system sent to the Philippines in 2023.

The abolition of the five-category system is likely to broaden the range of equipment that can be exported, which is expected to contribute to Japan’s defense industry and enhance security cooperation with friendly countries.