The Japanese government is considering selling decommissioned warships to Southeast Asian countries to fight terrorism and piracy, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Wednesday.

The intention came shortly after Japan relaxed its decades-longban on arms exports on Dec. 10 to allow selling of missile parts to the United States for joint development of missile defense systems. The new arms export policy also allows Japan to sell arms in the name of supporting international antiterrorism operations on a case-to-case basis.

The first buyers could be Singapore and Malaysia which requested Japan to relax its arms export ban in January, the report said.

The vessels in question could be 1,000-ton to 2,000-ton destroyers. Heavy weapons aboard would be removed as they are not needed to fight pirates, the daily quoted officials as saying.

Source: Agencies