Japan is considering legal reform that would allow its military to play a full role in U.N. peacekeeping missions beyond the current self-defense restrictions.
Senior officials from Japan’s three ruling parties agreed on Monday to seek a revision to the 1992 U.N. Peacekeeping Cooperation Law, which restricted Japanese soldiers to non-combat roles in U.N. operations, such as building bridges and monitoring elections.
The move comes after the enactment of a bill last month aimed at allowing Japan to provide non-combat support for the U.S.-led retaliation against the September 11 suicide attacks in the United States.
The Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partners, the New Conservative Party and the New Komeito Party, are pressing for the law to be amended during the current parliamentary session before it ends on December 7.
The parties are seeking to allow Japan to dispatch its troops, and allow its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to participate in U.N. peacekeeping missions such as separating warring factions, overseeing the laying down of arms, and removing landmines.
At present, it is prevented from settling international disputes by military means under its pacifist constitution, and is only allowed to dispatch troops overseas if a ceasefire is in place, and countries concerned consent to the dispatch.
The last time Japan deployed forces abroad was earlier last month, when it sent SDF planes to Pakistan carrying tents and blankets for refugees expected to flee strikes on Afghanistan.
But last Friday, three Japanese destroyers set sail for the Indian Ocean as a step towards broader – but non-combat – military support for the U.S.-led “war on terrorism,” the first such move for Japanese forces since World War Two.
Constraints revised
The three parties had also agreed to ease restrictions on the SDF using weapons in U.N. peacekeeping operations.
The law, which requires Japan to take a neutral position over warring factions, only allows Japanese soldiers to use weapons in their own defense, and not in the defense of others.
The United States drafted the constitution at the end of World War Two to restrict the influence of Japan’s military in the wake of the nation’s wartime imperialism.
As this developed, Japanese spokesman Tsutomu Himeno said Japan was also weighing plans to host an international summit on rebuilding Afghanistan after the fighting ends.
“We are consulting with other governments, the United Nations and other parties.”
“It is important to provide a better alternative to the people of Afghanistan for their future,” Himeno told the Associated Press news agency.
Himeno, however, declined to say when such a conference might be held or who might participate.