Japan's SDF units will go where combat may arise

The Japanese government has acknowledged in the Diet that a new law that
would allow the Self-Defense Forces to help U.S.-led military retaliation
includes deployment of SDF units in "combat areas" in connection with
military operations of U.S. and other forces in Afghanistan.

The government explained this in answer to a question by Japanese
Communist Party representative Kodama Kenji on October 11 at the Lower House
Special Committee meeting which was discussing the controversial government
bill.

Referring to the U.S. Central Command definition of "combat zones" which
include Afghanistan and its air zones, the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian
Sea, Kodama asked if SDF units will transport weapons and munitions to the
"combat zones."

The government in parliament has argued so far that the SDF can only be
sent to areas other than "combat zones" and that transporting weapons and
munitions by the SDF is not regarded as the use of military force. But Prime
Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro now suggested that SDF units can be sent to such
zones on the grounds that Japan's definition of "combat zone" is different
from that of the U.S.

Kodama stressed that so long as transporting them will be based on the
operational plans of the U.S. Forces, it will be tantamount to allowing the
SDF to give the U.S. a free hand in order to support their military attacks.
He demanded that the government retract such an unconstitutional bill.

On the issue of the sphere of coverage for search and rescue operations
by SDF units, Defense Agency Director General Nakatani Gen said it will be
decided in accordance with "case-by-case needs."

On similar cases in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Prime Minister Koizumi
said that the decision will be made to meet each situation, thus affirming
possible SDF activities in those areas.

Asked how the SDF will respond to possible attacks on SDF units carrying
rescued U.S. soldiers, Koizumi said it will depend on the situation, making
no denial to the possibility of SDF units in such actions launching counter
attacks.

Quoting the September 30, 1998 U.S. Navy manual on rescue operations,
Kodama said, "No one can deny that such operations amount to supplementing
combat forces. It doesn't make sense for the Japanese government to insist
that such actions are just 'humanitarian'." (end)