On January 28, the DPJ’s Policy Research Committee Chair Masayuki Naoshima, Next Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoshio Hachiro, and Next Minister of Defence Keiichiro Asao issued the following statement.

Today, the government formally agreed on a policy for issuing an order for maritime police actions based on the Self Defense Forces Law and dispatching Japan Maritime Self Defense Forces to participate in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. In response, Minister of Defense Yasukazu Hamada immediately instructed the SDF to begin preparations [for the dispatch].

The Democratic Party of Japan, considering our country’s status as a nation founded on trade, and in view of the importance of ensuring the safety of shipments for shipping in the major sea lanes, preempted the government by stipulating in our “Eradication of Terrorism Bill” that Japan should make an active and major contribution to international efforts in order to preserve the freedom of travelling by ship in international waters. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, piracy is an exception to the rule of flag state control, and all nations have the right to act to prevent it. With regard to anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden in particular, numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions have been issued, and member countries have been called upon to take active measures. In addition, Japanese nationals and Japan-related shipping have been victims of such piracy, and there is no arguing with the need for a speedy response.

In Japan, anti-piracy measures are primarily the responsibility of the Japan Coast Guard. On this occasion, it is claimed that it is difficult for the Japan Coast Guard to respond and so the Maritime SDF will be deployed under the maritime police action provision, but we would like to request a detailed explanation of why the Japan Coast Guard are unable to respond. Even though anti-piracy measures are a police action, and do not amount to the use of force prohibited under Article 9 of the Constitution, the specific operational criteria for the SDF dispatch, including rules on the use of weapons and on the activities to be carried out by SDF troops, should be clarified. Furthermore, maritime police actions are envisaged as operations that are of a non-permanent nature and that would take place in the waters surrounding Japan, so we need to thoroughly investigate the question of whether they are appropriate for a long term dispatch to the Gulf of Aden. Furthermore, in such maritime police actions it is impossible to protect foreign shipping, and so there are limitations from the perspective of international cooperation as well.

Anti-piracy measures should properly be carried out by a new administration that has been selected by the electorate, through undertaking revision of our domestic laws based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other legislation, and not by dispatching the SDF in an arbitrary fashion by issuing a maritime police action order. The government should not make SDF dispatch the be all and end all, but should properly fulfil their accountability obligations and obtain the understanding of the people. Furthermore, they should engage in a comprehensive approach carried out by an international alliance, which would include providing reconstruction assistance to a Somalia that has been rendered governless by civil war, and contributing to a regional cooperation framework for taking anti-piracy measures.