DA chief says MSDF may fire back if U.S. warships are attacked in Indian Ocean

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DA chief says MSDF may fire back if U.S. warships are attacked in Indian Ocean

Defense Agency Director General Kyuma Fumio has indicated the possibility that the Maritime Self-Defense Force will launch a counterattack if U.S. warships are attacked while MSDF vessels are refueling them in the Indian Ocean.

Kyuma's remark shows the government intention to allow a SDF unit to launch a counterattack under the pretext of self-defense even though the SDF unit is not under attack.

At a House of Representatives special committee meeting on October 16, Democratic Party representative Banno Yutaka urged Kyuma to enable the SDF to carry out a counterattack when U.S. vessels are attacked by invoking Article 95 of the SDF Law that allows the SDF to use its weapons to protect itself.

Kyuma in reply said, "When one cannot say for sure which ship, U.S. or MSDF, is being attacked, it seems that the SDF has no other choice to launching a counterattack."

The Japanese Constitution prohibits Japan from exercising the right to collective self-defense. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, however, has declared his intention to seek to change the interpretation of specific SDF activities that past governments had regarded as prohibited since they fall in the category of the exercise of the right to collective self-defense, into ones that are allowed by the right to individual self-defense.

Thus, the DA director general's remark could open the way for exercising the right to collective self-defense.
- Akahata, October 17, 2006