Japan's National Security Council Will Reportedly Rethink Defence Strategy Next Week

TOKYO (Sputnik) - The Japanese National Security Council may hold a meeting next week at which it is expected to explore new avenues to provide national security after scrapping plans to install land-based missile systems Aegis Ashore, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The suspension of the costly and controversial US-made defence system was announced suddenly earlier in the week, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to rethink the country’s security strategy, the report says.

According to the broadcaster, Abe and relevant ministers and officials on the Council are likely to explore alternative missile systems and cooperation strategies before the September deadline to submit an annual defence budget.

Among the new defence approaches, the Council may explore acquiring the capability to attack enemy bases as a self-defence tactic, NHK reported.

Defence Minister Kono Taro is set to visit northern Akita Prefecture on Sunday, one of the two candidate sites for the Aegis Ashore system, NHK said. There he will explain the government’s reasoning for scrapping the $1.8 billion project, which is designed to shoot down targets in the earth’s stratosphere and above.