Aso seeks MSDF dispatch off Somalia

Prime Minister Taro Aso on Friday pressed for ways to swiftly dispatch Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels to thwart pirates off Somalia, but he faced reluctance from his coalition partner and even his defense chief.

"I have instructed the defense minister to further accelerate discussions on how to allow the SDF to quickly participate in counter-piracy measures," Aso told a Cabinet meeting Friday.

However, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada questioned the effectiveness of rushing to send MSDF vessels to the seas off east Africa to protect only Japanese vessels.

"If we only (protect) Japanese ships, how effective would it be from the viewpoint of international collaboration?" Hamada said at a news conference the same day.

Members of the Liberal Democratic Party's junior coalition partner, New Komeito, have also raised concerns over what would be an unprecedented dispatch for dealing with pirates.

The government has been fretting over its inability to take prompt action while other nations, including China, have rushed to protect their vessels from pirates.

Japan is the only Group of Eight nation that has not sent naval vessels off Somalia.

One option available for Japan is to use Article 82 of the Self-Defense Forces Law for a maritime security operation to protect Japanese lives or properties.

Under the law, the defense minister can order a dispatch to deal with armed foreign vessels, or unidentified vessels, if the situation is deemed to exceed the capability of the Japan Coast Guard.

Another option, already being pushed by the government, is to send MSDF vessels under a new general law that would allow the SDF to protect not only Japanese ships, but foreign commercial vessels as well.

The government plans to submit a bill for the general law during the ordinary Diet session next year.

The envisioned law would also allow SDF vessels to engage in counter-piracy operations elsewhere.

It would define piracy as a crime, which is currently not stipulated in domestic laws, and allow SDF vessels to intervene in acts of piracy targeting foreign ships that are not carrying Japanese nationals or cargo.

But even if the government submits the bill, deliberations are unlikely to start in earnest until April at the earliest, after the passage of the fiscal 2009 budget.

Dispatch orders under the SDF Law have been issued only twice.

One was in 1999, to allow the SDF to pursue two suspected North Korean spy ships spotted off the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture. The other dispatch order was issued in 2004, when a Chinese submarine intruded into Japanese waters.(IHT/Asahi: December 27,2008)