Agence France-Presse,
TOKYO: Japan has ordered two warships on an anti-piracy mission off Somalia where US, European and Chinese naval vessels have already been fending off pirates who staged over 100 attacks last year.
The two destroyers are due to set sail Saturday for the Gulf of Aden from a western Japanese port, the defence ministry said. The ships are expected to arrive in waters near the Suez canal in about three weeks.
“Following the decision at today's cabinet meeting, I ordered the Self-Defence Forces to engage in the maritime security activity,” said Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada.
“Piracy off Somalia is a threat to Japan and the international community,” the minister told reporters at a briefing. “It is an important duty for the Self-Defence Forces to protect Japanese lives and assets.”
The period of the deployment had not been fixed, Hamada said, but he added that “six months could be an idea”.
The policing mission has divided opinion in Japan, where under the post-World War II pacifist constitution troops in international disputes can use force only for self-defence and to protect Japanese nationals.
Japan's major missions overseas — including in Iraq, off Afghanistan, and as UN peacekeepers — have so far been largely logistical and rear-area support, such as refuelling, transport and reconstruction missions.
Recent newspaper polls have shown growing public support for the mission, with a survey this week by the top-selling Yomiuri Shimbun showing 61 percent of respondents in favour and 27 percent against.
Under their current rules of engagement, the two Maritime Self-Defence Force ships, carrying about 400 sailors and coastguard officers, would protect only Japanese ships, nationals and cargo.
But Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party has proposed legislation that would widen the scope of the mission and allow the destroyers to engage pirates who threaten other nations' ships.
