Japan needs new defense guidelines with US for Taiwan, lawmakers say

Group wants Tokyo to join South China Sea freedom of navigation patrols

20210603N Aegis Kongo

The Aegis-equipped Japanese destroyer Kongo, front, participates in joint exercises near Okinawa with the American aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. © Reuters

YUKIO TAJIMA, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- A group of lawmakers in Japan's ruling party on Thursday recommended that Japan and the U.S. revise their defense guidelines to focus on potential flashpoints involving China, particularly Taiwan and the South China Sea.

The guidelines set out the respective roles and missions of Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military in the alliance, and how the two should work together.

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