Japan has temporarily dropped plans to send a state-of-the-art Aegis destroyer to the Indian Ocean to support any US retaliation for the September 11 terror attacks in the United States, a report said Thursday.
The reversal was due to the US aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk's anticipated return to its homeport in Japan and growing caution within Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling party, the Jiji Press news agency said.
The Aegis vessel, two helicopter-carrying destroyers and a tanker had been reportedly set to leave the southern Japanese port of Sasebo as early as Thursday to follow a US naval battle group, led by the Kitty Hawk, to the Indian Ocean.
The Japanese flotilla would have collected intelligence and conducted surveillance activities alongside the US battle group, according to earlier press reports.
It would have been the first time Japan has sent armed forces abroad in connection with a US military operation, despite a constitutional ban on the use of force overseas.
But the 81,100-ton aircraft carrier, which left its homeport of Yokosuka at the mouth of Tokyo Bay a week earlier, was expected to return home possibly over the next few days, Jiji said.
Taku Yamasaki, secretary general of Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (conservative), told a meeting of party leaders that he had advised the prime minister not to send an Aegis destroyer, Jiji said.
Japan has four Aegis destroyers, which are capable of firing missiles more than 100 kilometers.
"It is true that the Aegis' capability is outstanding but we should give consideration to the people's awareness," Yamasaki was quoted as saying.
The joint naval operation could have run foul of Japan's post-war pacifist constitution which bans the use of force in settling international disputes. The dictum has been interpreted to rule out "collective defense" with allies in conflict overseas.
Koizumi, meanwhile, determined that there was a limited need for the dispatch of an Aegis destroyer as the Kitty Hawk's return appeared to demonstrate that a major air strike was not imminent, Jiji said.
At the same time, the premier noted that the United States wished Japan to provide medical treatment and help refugees in any military action and that sending a hospital ship to Pakistan would be more beneficial, the report said.
The LDP secretary general earlier this week said Japan's ruling coalition aimed to enact legislation next month to enable its troops to give rearguard support for US forces in any retaliatory strikes -- TOKYO (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
