September 5, 2024

A liaison council consisting of trade unions, women’s groups, and peace groups in Miyagi Prefecture on September 4 made representations to the Defense Ministry’s Tohoku Defense Bureau, demanding that the planned Japan-France joint military drills at the Self-Defense Forces Ojojihara training field in the prefecture be cancelled.

The liaison council made the same request to the prefectural government as well.

The SDF plans to conduct field training exercises with the French army between September 8 and 20 at its Ojojihara training field with 100 SDF soldiers and 50 French soldiers participating. This is the first Japan-France joint exercises on Japanese soil.

In the representations at the local defense office, the liaison council pointed out that since the forcible enactment of the national security-related legislation (aka war laws) in 2015, the SDF has been stepping up and expanding joint military training exercises with foreign militaries. Stressing that this makes local residents concerned about their safety, the civic group called for the cancellation of the planned joint exercises.

The liaison council pushed the defense authority to specify the legal grounds for conducting the joint drills and to accept at a minimum the council’s demands to prohibit holding joint drills at night as well as on weekends and holidays. It added that restrictions on French soldiers entering civilian residential and commercial areas should also be imposed.

A defense bureau official replied that joint military exercises can be held with the consent of Japan and France and that there is no need to make an arrangement like a Status of Forces Agreement between the two countries.