Commentary: Japan has an Axe to Grind

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 30, 2003

Commentary: Japan has an Axe to Grind

Despite a last-ditch protest by all the opposition parties, Japan's Upper House approved a controversial bill on Saturday to send the Self-Defence Forces (SDF) to help rebuild Iraq.

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Despite a last-ditch protest by all the opposition parties, Japan's Upper House approved a controversial bill on Saturday to send the Self-Defence Forces (SDF) to help rebuild Iraq.

Under the new law, which is valid for four years, Japan will dispatch some 1,000 of its SDF soldiers to Iraq in October. Their role will be to provide logistics support to the United States and British forces in humanitarian relief, reconstruction efforts and peacekeeping operations.

The new law, for the first time, enables Japan to send its SDF troops overseas to an occupied country where war has not yet officially ended at the request of the occupying authorities, and not the country's government.

Tokyo defines the objective of the Iraq assistance law as helping bring stability and democracy to the war-ravaged country.

But is there any specific need to utilize the SDF in the rebuilding operations, which is banned under the peace principles of its own Constitution, not to mention the justification for the US-led invasion of Iraq, a still hotly contested issue?

Under Article 9 of its post-World War II Constitution, Japan "forever renounces war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force.'' This provision has been traditionally interpreted as prohibiting the nation from exercising the right to collective defence, including joint military operations with US forces and collective security activities, such as United Nations peace-keeping operations.

During the Diet -- the Japanese parliament -- debate, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said SDF troops will stay clear of combat zones and adhere to the rules of the non use of force.

With the US and allied casualties caused by guerrilla attacks in Iraq occurring almost daily, it will be difficult to distinguish combat from noncombat zones amid the volatile Iraqi situation. Furthermore, there is no assurance, for now at least, that the SDF personnel will not get bogged down in combat-like scenarios where lurking dangers could necessitate the use of force.

The basic question, therefore, is what role the SDF should play? Koizumi reportedly told the Diet following the enactment of the Iraq law that a permanent law should be established to define the role of the SDF in its overseas peacekeeping operations.

Since the end of the Cold War Japan has been expanding its military role overseas, in particular under the banner of fighting terrorism, since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US.

To build confidence among its Asian neighbours, Japan needs to rethink its security policies on expanding its international presence. (China Daily News)

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