Japan Press Weekly

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2024 November 6 - 12 [SDF]

SDF frequently holds joint drills with foreign military forces other than US forces without legal grounds

Since the three key national security documents were revised in 2022, joint military training exercises between the Self-Defense Forces and foreign military forces other than the U.S. forces have been conducted frequently at SDF bases in Kanagawa Prefecture without any legal basis.

This was reported by Akahata on November 6 based on materials which the Defense Ministry had submitted to the office of Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Shii Kazuo.

According to Akahata, the SDF bases in question are the Maritime SDF Yokosuka Naval Base (Yokosuka City) and the MSDF Atsugi base (Ayase and Yamato cities). Military forces participating in the joint drills came from 15 countries, including Australia, India, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Italy, Netherland, the U.K., Indonesia, and France.

The three key documents, with China in mind, state that bilateral and multilateral military exercises will be promoted aggressively to strengthen collaboration with “like-minded countries”. However, no legal provisions like the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement are provided to justify the participation of other countries’ armed forces in joint military drills with the SDF in Japan. Among the 15 countries, only Australia and the U.K. concluded with Japan an agreement which constitutes a certain degree of legal basis for their military unit’s participation in joint exercises at SDF bases.

In response to an Akahata inquiry in regard to legal grounds, the Defense Ministry said that joint military exercises between the SDF and other countries’ military forces are held as part of diplomatic relations as specified under Article 73 of the Constitution as “affairs of the Cabinet”.

When asked by Akahata reporters about criminal jurisdiction in crimes and accidents caused by foreign military personnel and about customs procedures for bringing in equipment used in joint drills, the ministry said that these matters are handled by individual arrangements and gave no detailed information.

Lawyer Goto Masahiko who works on base issues pointed out that SDF joint drills with other countries with China in mind looks like a rehearsal of Japan’s exercise of the collective self-defense right, which violates the Constitution. Regarding the defense authority’s handling of criminal jurisdiction, the lawyer said that this is an issue affecting people’s rights and thus Diet approval on this issue is a must.