Newsletter No. 979
Editorial-Opinion
April 16, 2008

 

YOMIURI SHINBUN URGES GSDF DEPLOYMENT TO SUDAN

While the Asahi Shinbun used its editorial page yesterday to express much-needed concerns about the health of Japanese democracy, the Yomiuri Shinbun was much more worried that Japan is falling behind in the international race to deploy as many troops abroad as possible. Shockingly, Japan ranks 82nd in the number of participants deployed to UN peacekeeping operations. Japanese, after all, never like to be low in the “rankings.”

For our purposes, the Yomiuri’s argument why Tokyo should send the GSDF to Sudan is very interesting. I’d like to point out two things that are missing entirely from the argument of the Yomiuri editors:

1) The Japanese Constitution doesn’t receive any mention at all as they urge a permanent SDF deployment law. Since the Japanese conservatives have failed to gain sufficient public support for Constitutional revision; it seems that Plan B is simply to ignore the very existence of Japan’s highest legal charter.

2) This argument on why the GSDF should be sent to Sudan has nothing whatsoever to do with the conditions of Sudan or the Sudanese people. Where are the mentions of the political situation inside that African country? How heavily does the fate of the Sudanese people weigh in the logic of this editorial?

As I read it, the Iraq War played its part in helping the SDF break out its legal and political shell; and now the fate of actual Iraqis is all but irrelevant to the Japanese conservatives. Next, it may be Sudan’s turn to provide the stage for the training of the resurgent Japanese military.

Let SDF Take Greater Role in U.N. Operations
Yomiuri Shimbun
April 15, 2008

As a member of the international community, is it not time for Japan to more proactively undertake the task of dispatching Self-Defense Forces personnel overseas? Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda stressed in his policy speech to the ordinary Diet session in January that Japan will "play a responsible role in the international community as a nation that will contribute to the peace and advancement of the world." This commitment has also been cited as one of the five key policies to which the Cabinet attaches great importance.

However, the nation's current situation is far from Fukuda's goal. As of Jan. 31, Japan ranked 82nd in the number of participants in U.N. peacekeeping operations and political missions, with 38 personnel assigned to such duties, including those dispatched to the Golan Heights in the Middle East. Japan trails behind all other Group of Eight industrialized nations, China and South Korea.

The Foreign Ministry and others have proposed dispatching Ground Self-Defense Force personnel to the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in the Middle East. The UNMIS, which is separate from the U.N. peacekeeping operation in the war-torn Darfur region in western Sudan, covers southern Sudan, where a peace accord was signed by the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army.

Weak Objections

Some officials at the Defense Ministry have voiced doubts as to whether Japan's national interest is served by sending SDF personnel all the way to Africa to take risks. We find that line of assertion too passive. The SDF's international peace cooperation activities were upgraded to primary duties in January last year, when the Defense Agency's status was raised to that of a full ministry. Later, the GSDF set up the International Peace Cooperation Activities Training Unit, which conducts research on international peace cooperation activities, and the Central Readiness Force to serve as an advance guard for U.N. peacekeeping operations.

For example, one idea is to dispatch GSDF personnel to the UNMIS headquarters in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. It would be an excellent opportunity not only to play a responsible role as a member of the command center staff, but also to examine the actual circumstances surrounding a U.N. peacekeeping operation. Incorporating such fresh information as the type of duties expected to be performed by the main unit of the dispatched personnel in southern Sudan along with determining the sort of dangers existing there, the Defense Ministry can examine what the GSDF units can do there. It will be to the Defense Ministry's own benefit to steadily accumulate knowledge regarding peacekeeping operations.

Permanent Law Needed

Also, the government should speed up its examination of the establishment of a permanent law regarding the dispatch of SDF troops overseas. The ruling parties planned to set up a team of lawmakers to look into the possibility of establishing a permanent law at the end of February. However, the team has not yet been formed due to the reluctance of New Komeito.

The time limit set for the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean will end in January next year when the the current Antiterrorism Law expires. It is not too early to discuss the contents of a permanent law that could take effect from this time. Before the matter becomes a crisis, it is desirable to discuss from various viewpoints what form Japan's international peace cooperation activities should take.

At present, the use of weapons by SDF personnel is strictly limited. It is an urgent task to reduce the restrictions on the use of weapons by troops in pursuing their missions to the same level as other countries. This will also be an important key to SDF participation in more peacekeeping operations.