A Japanese destroyer departed yesterday to resume the country's anti-terrorism mission in the Indian Ocean after a divisive battle in parliament caused a three-month suspension.
The destroyer Murasame left the port of Yokosuka, to be joined later by a tanker. The ships' refueling mission, in support of US-led forces patrolling the Indian Ocean, was to begin in two to three weeks.
"Japan will fulfill its global responsibilities," Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said at a send-off ceremony attended by about 200 people. "This mission is highly appreciated abroad. It is a very important mission."
A small group of protesters stood outside the base's gate, waving banners and shouting slogans opposing the mission, but there were no incidents or arrests.
Japan had refueled ships since 2001 in support of US-led forces in Afghanistan, but was forced to abandon the mission in November when the opposition blocked an extension of the operation.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) overcame the logjam earlier this month by forcing a law through the Diet with its vast majority in the powerful lower house.
The new mission, however, will be more limited in scope, restricting Japanese ships to refueling only boats not directly involved in hostilities in Afghanistan. The limit is aimed at winning over a public wary of violating the spirit of the post-World War II pacifist Constitution.
The US had lobbied hard for the mission, and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda had been deeply embarrassed by having to withdraw the mission in November.
Japan had been a supporter of the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition to the Indian Ocean mission, Japan sent a contingent of troops on a non-combat, humanitarian mission to southern Iraq from 2004 to 2006.
Fukuda and other LDP lawmakers argued the naval mission was needed to fulfill Japan's obligations in the war against terrorism and give the country a world role commensurate with its economic clout.
Public opinion polls show Japanese are gradually coming to accept a greater role for their troops abroad -- as long as it does not involve combat.
The Democratic Party of Japan, which took control of the upper chamber in elections last year, has opposed the mission because it says military operations in Afghanistan do not have the explicit support of the UN and violates the Constitution.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
RSS