Japan's ruling party approves plans to beef up intelligence amid defence overhaul
The overhaul would expand foreign intelligence gathering, tighten counter-espionage rules, and create a stronger central intelligence body.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling party has approved plans to beef up the country's intelligence capability, a party official has said, as the premier pushes ahead with a defence overhaul.
Newly empowered after a landslide victory in snap elections this month, Takaichi has vowed to make Japan "strong and prosperous" through key policy changes, including in defence and intelligence.
The plans come as a months-long diplomatic row between Japan and China over comments Takaichi made on Taiwan rumbles on.
The proposal, agreed by the intelligence strategy headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), includes establishing an upgraded intelligence bureau and strengthening "foreign intelligence collection capabilities", an LDP official said on Friday.
It calls for a mandatory registration system for foreign agents — such as individuals and corporations lobbying within Japan on behalf of other governments — as part of counterintelligence measures.
‘Major policy shift’
The plan, which also includes a ban on the use of mobile phones in key government buildings, is expected to be submitted to Takaichi next week, the Asahi Shimbun and other local media reported.
"One of the central pillars of the major policy shift (under Takaichi) is a fundamental strengthening of intelligence," the LDP's policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi said at the meeting on Thursday, where plans were approved.
"Simply creating an organisation on paper is utterly meaningless; the question is how we can turn it into a truly living, functioning body," he said.
Separately, the LDP on Wednesday proposed changes to Japan's stringent rules on exporting military equipment so as to enable exports of lethal weapons, local reports said.
The LDP official could not immediately confirm the proposal.