(MENAFN- QNA) Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asked US President Barack Obama to postpone the planned revision of bilateral defense cooperation guidelines from the originally set year-end deadline until next spring and obtained his approval when the two met in Australia in mid-November, diplomatic sources said.
Abe made the request to Obama during their talks on November 16 in Brisbane on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit, as he hoped to prevent the controversial security issue from influencing nationwide local elections slated for April, Japan's News Agency (Kyodo) reported.
Officials of the two countries are now arranging for the first revision of the guidelines in 17 years to take place in early May at the earliest, they said.
The guidelines specify the roles of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and U.S. military.
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