Shinzo Abe, the new leader of Japan’s main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, has expressed his wishes to ease restrictions on amending the Constitution.

Japanese media reported Abe as saying at a lecture in Kyoto that all politicians who oppose amendments to the Constitution should excuse themselves from the next election.

Abe reportedly also wants to change the mandatory two-thirds vote needed to submit a Constitutional amendment to parliament to a simple majority vote. He is also expected to push for an amendment of the “Peace Constitution” that renounces war as a sovereign right and bans armed forces.

Abe has also said he will make laws that would strengthen Japan Coast Guard and the Maritime Self-Defense Forces to better respond to its territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands, also known as Diaoyu in Chinese.