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Aid and comfort: Japan's Aegis sets sail
By Axel Berkofsky
A
state-of-the-art Japanese Aegis destroyer is sailing
toward the Indian Ocean. After months of controversial
discussions, contradictions and Japan's government
changing its mind on a daily basis, a destroyer equipped
with the advanced Aegis missile-defense system left its
port in Yokosuka on Monday.
The destroyer will
protect Japanese vessels that are providing logistical
support for the anti-terrorism campaign by refueling US
and British vessels in the Indian Ocean and will carry
out surveillance activities in the area.
The
7,250-ton Kirishima, with a crew of about 250, is
scheduled to pass the Strait of Malacca and arrive in
the Indian Ocean in three weeks to replace the Hiei, one
of three Japanese navy vessels currently deployed in the
area. Additionally, the Kirishima is to protect Japanese
tankers in the Persian Gulf in the event of the United
States launching an attack on Iraq.
The Aegis
destroyers are the Japanese military's pride and the
warship's ability to track 200 missiles simultaneously,
shooting down 10 of them at the same time, will make
sure that terrorists and other evil-doers might indeed
want to think twice before messing with the Japanese
navy.
Before announcing the vessel's deployment,
which is based on Japan's special anti-terrorism law
enacted last November, however, Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi seemed not entirely sure whether he was at all
the man in charge.
"Is it possible for me to
decide the matter by myself?" Koizumi was quoted as
asking when meeting last month with Fukushiro Nukaga,
former Defense Agency director general and acting
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) acting secretary general.
Nukaga apparently thought he was saying, "Nobody else
else but you can decide to dispatch the high-tech
destroyers." On December 4 he did, and the timing seemed
just right.
US administration and Pentagon
officials had requested the deployment numerous times
over the past months and while the United States was
beginning to run out of patience, the Japanese
government was running out of excuses why dispatching
the high-tech vessels was not on the agenda.
On
Monday, the Japan-US Security Consultative Committee,
comprising defense and foreign ministers of the two
nations, met in Washington, and this time the Japanese
delegation did not arrive empty-handed. When Japanese
Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Defense Agency
director general Shigeru Ishiba touched down in
Washington, family members of the Japanese Aegis crew
were already waving their loved ones goodbye in
Yokosuka.
The intelligence data gathered by the
ship's Aegis system with air-defense radar linked by
computer to US Navy ships covering a radius of some 500
kilometers could be shared by the US fleet for military
attacks - an activity many view as Japan exercising the
right to collective self-defense. Not a big deal as far
as Koizumi is concerned.
"The only difference
between Aegis destroyers and other destroyers is that
the former have a higher capability," the prime minister
said in response to critics. Ironically though, at least
until recently, it was exactly the vessels' military
high profile that the prime minister cited as the reason
the warships would not be dispatched.
Then again
it was just another U-turn on Japan's security policy
agenda, and usually it is up to Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yasuo Fukuda to step in front of the cameras to try to
make sense of what Koizumi offers as his point of view.
As the months went by and Koizumi's ever-changing
rhetoric unfolded, Fukuda ended up explaining why
dispatching the Aegis destroyers was "out of question"
at the end of November and "absolutely necessary" only a
week later.
Things have become easier for the
government, however, since the LDP's ruling-coalition
partner, the New Komeito, got ready to throw overboard
what is left of the party's pacifist principles. The
party, formerly known for its pacifist policies and
backed by Japan's largest lay Buddhist organization,
Soka Gakkai, feared that dispatching Aegis vessels might
violate Japan's war-renouncing constitution.
A
high-ranking Defense Agency official took over the task
of convincing the dovish coalition partner. He showed up
at the New Komeito's party headquarters in Tokyo
claiming that Aegis destroyers are more crew-friendly in
hot climates than the escort ships currently the Indian
Ocean, which were built more than 25 years ago.
"The air-conditioning system doesn't work at all
inside the ships and the temperature inside can reach
about 30 degrees Celsius. The Aegis destroyer has an
inside temperature of 25 C, giving Japanese sailors a
chance to take leave from their duties and relax in the
destroyers' cool confines," the official said,
indicating that life could be much more comfortable for
Japanese soldiers on a warship-turned-cabin-cruiser.
"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" a leading
New Komeito member official asked, indicating that it is
much easier to dispatch a warship when the well-being of
Japanese soldiers is at stake.
Takenori Kanzaki,
New Komeito's party head, gave his go-ahead only a day
later. So while deploying the high-tech ships was
"unconstitutional" only a few weeks ago, sending the
warship toward the Indian Ocean is now "regrettable" and
"unfortunate".
However, working on warships
escorting Japanese supply ships is not really meant to
be comfortable, claim Japanese political commentators,
implying that chilling out aboard is not supposed to be
part of what is usually defined as war against
international terrorism.
The Japanese
government, however, already has a reputation for being
overly preoccupied with their soldiers' comfort when
abroad. When Japanese troops were dispatched to the
United Nations peacekeeping mission to Cambodia a decade
ago, the Japanese government made sure that its military
personnel would find vending machines selling ice-cold
soft drinks and coffee as well Japanese-style hot baths
upon arrival in the Cambodian jungle. Japan's efforts to
make its military camp "just like home" did not go down
too well with other peacekeeping nations, which wondered
whether sushi and relaxing in air-conditioned tents
after work is supposed to be part of a "typical day" as
UN peacekeeper.
The Japanese military, however,
apparently does not want any special favors this time.
"All dressed up and nowhere to go" is pretty much how
Japan's military has felt for a long time, and the
chance to show off with high-tech vessels in the Indian
Ocean was enough incentive to huddle up with the US
Navy, putting additional pressure on the Japanese
government as it turned out. This year it was revealed
that Japanese high-ranking naval officers temporarily
took over the country's policy-making, advising their US
Navy colleagues to urge the administration of President
George W Bush to increase the pressure on Tokyo if Aegis
vessels were ever to leave Japanese ports (see Japan navy's salvo catches politicians
off guard, May 16).
Despite the Japanese
government's recent enthusiasm for dispatching the Aegis
destroyers, however, doubts remain even within the LDP
whether sending off the flashy warships for the sake of
pleasing the Pentagon and the country's own navy was
really such a good idea.
"It is not desirable to
advance a plan without sufficient debate and agreement,"
LDP General Council chairman Mitsuo Horiuchi said. "The
military is always doing such things. We know what the
old Japanese military was like."
The LDP's
former secretary general, Hiromu Nonaka, usually in
charge of back-door deals behind the scenes within his
party, echoed Horiuchi's fear, claiming that "sending
such a ship could trigger a move to drive our nation in
a dangerous direction, including deployment of forces
against Iraq".
Meanwhile, LDP lawmakers have
once again started discussing whether the country needs
a revised version of Japan's anti-terrorism law enabling
its military and warships to move on to the Persian Gulf
if the United States attacks Iraq.
The next Diet
session starts on January 20 although Japanese lawmakers
admit that there is little chance that a revised
anti-terrorism law could make it through both chambers.
"Not so fast," says the government, which reportedly has
no plans to provide direct support for any attacking
forces during a military strike against Iraq.
Not just yet, at least, although Japan had no
plans to dispatch Aegis ships either until two weeks
ago.
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