The Japanese government will submit a bill in the upcoming parliament session to again extend its offshore refueling assistance to the US-led anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Thursday.

Under the special two-year law that came into effect in November 2001 and has been extended once to run through Nov. 1, Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's ships have been refueling other vessels of the US-led coalition in the Indian Ocean.

"We are considering the basic idea of again extending the law as international counterterrorism efforts continue to be a pressing and important issue for the international community," Hosoda, Tokyo's top spokesman, told reporters at a press conference.

While the duration of extension can be up to two years, the government has yet to decide on it and plans to reach a conclusion by next week, Hosoda added.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was earlier reluctant to extend the law but following a US request for extension he has instructed officials to study the feasibility of it, according to Kyodo News.

The two-year law was first enacted in October 2001 following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and was extended for another two years in October 2003.

As of late August, vessels of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force had provided a total of 407,000 kiloliters, or 16 billion yen worth of fuel, on 541 occasions to vessels from 11 countries.

Source: Xinhua