MOSCOW, November 20 (Sputnik) — Washington and Tokyo have decided to postpone changes to their defense cooperation guidelines because of domestic issues in the two countries, Japan's NHK TV channel reported on Thursday.
US and Japanese governments had released a report in October stating that the defense cooperation revision will be finalized by the end of 2014. However, following the dissolution of the Japanese parliament's lower house, the country's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government needs more time to work out national security legislation for use of the right to collective defense.
According to NHK, US and Japanese Defense Ministers will meet soon to confirm changes to the plans.
US Democrats' midterm election loss to the Republicans is another reason for postponing the defense cooperation review, according to a Japanese Defense Ministry official, cited by NHK.
The Japanese government plans to finalize the revision by early 2015, when bills on national security legislation will be submitted to the Japanese parliament.
