Newsletter No. 690
News-Analysis
July 31, 2007

 

HATOYAMA ANNOUNCES OPPOSITION TO MSDF INDIAN OCEAN MISSION EXTENSION

I am surprised but pleased to note that the newly-empowered Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is targeting the MSDF Indian Ocean mission as one of the first policies that they intend to change. Just a few weeks ago, on July 11th, newly-appointed Defense Minister Yuriko Koike told reporters that she wanted to extend the deployment beyond its current November 1st deadline: “We'd like to continue activities that are suitable for our country, based on the antiterrorism law.”

However, DPJ Secretary-General Yukio Hatoyama made these comments yesterday: “We have always been fundamentally opposed to extending this law. The upper house elections have shown the country agrees, and so we will be expected to keep that line.”

An AP article adds this analysis: “The Indian Ocean dispatch has been part of Tokyo's recent attempts to raise its international profile. It also sent non-combat troops to help rebuild southern Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion. But the DPJ has criticized both operations, saying Japan's international efforts should be channeled through the United Nations, not the United States. Others say the missions violate the nation's pacifist constitution, which prohibits the use of force in solving international disputes.”

I recognize that Hatoyama’s comments are disingenuous. The DPJ’s victory on Sunday had very little to do with public support for a more moderate foreign policy. Still, I said in my analysis yesterday that the DPJ’s victory constituted a “sharp check to Japan’s rightward drift.” Hatoyama’s comments prove that my first impressions were correct. Indeed, Hatoyama himself is actually from the more conservative wing of the DPJ.

Do Hatoyama’s comments mean that the MSDF Indian Ocean mission and the ASDF Iraq missions will be folded up this year? Quite possibly so.

But now we’ll have to see how strongly Washington reacts -- and we also don’t know how readily the DPJ will respond to American pressure when it comes.