Japan to set up US-style security agency

Tokyo – A committee under the Japanese lower house Wednesday passed a bill on establishing a US-style National Security Council (NSC) to make and coordinate Japan’s foreign and security policies, media reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that it was necessary to frequently analyse international situation so as to come up with diplomatic and military means to deal with various threats under a changing global security environment, Xinhua reported.

The bill, which gained green light from the ruling bloc that groups Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and its small partner the New Komeito Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, will be voted in a plenary session Thursday at the lower house.

If established, the NSC will empower the prime minister’s office to take the lead in crafting foreign and defence policy by gathering information from various ministries and agencies, according to Japan’s Kyodo News.

The prime minister, the chief cabinet secretary, and the foreign and defence ministers will meet twice a month to discuss security issues, it said.

The head office of the council will be set up within the cabinet secretariat to streamline policy-planning through coordination among relevant government ministries and agencies, according to the bill.