Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday headed for talks with US President George W. Bush as Japan prepared legislation to allow it to provide logistical support in any retaliation for the terror attacks on the United States.
Koizumi is to brief Bush in Washington Tuesday on his plans to support US military action, targeting Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden, identified by Washington as the prime suspect in the attacks, is believed to be hiding.
The Kyodo news agency, meanwhile, reported that Japan was preparing to send three destroyers and a naval tanker to the Indian Ocean to help a US battle group there with intelligence and surveillance chores.
It would be the first time Japan has sent abroad armed forces in connection with a US military operation.
The mission could run afoul 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 overseas so Koizumi's ruling coalition aims to enact a law approving the military support.
Koizumi's hastily arranged trip to Washington has been widely seen as an effort to prevent Japan from being relegated to the sidelines as other countries have pledged support for the US global war against terrorism.
The September 11 suicide attacks by hijacked planes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon prompted Koizumi last week to pledge a new law on logistical support -- such as medical services, transportation and supply shipments -- for the US reprisal.
"I want to demonstrate Japan's will to fight terrorism resolutely in the international community," Koizumi told reporters late Sunday at his official residence.
"I want to tell him (Bush) that Japan will strictly fulfill its responsibility in the international community," the premier said, adding that he would seek the US president's thoughts on the course of action.
Under his initiative, Japan has also decided to give Pakistan about 40 million dollars in emergency aid to help rebuild its finances and cope with a possible flood of refugees from neighboring Afghanistan.
Giving limited support to any US-led retaliation risks leaving Japan as isolated as it was during the 1991 Gulf War.
Tokyo then gave 13-billion-dollars in aid to the US-led strikes against Iraq but ended up being accused of bankrolling the operation without risking any Japanese lives.
The flotilla, bound for the Indian Ocean with a total of 900 troops on board, will include a state-of-the-art Aegis destroyer and closely work with a US naval task force led by the Japan-based aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, Kyodo said.
Japan's ruling coalition aims to enact legislation next month to approve rearguard support for any retaliatory strike, a senior official said Sunday despite wide-spread fears of Japan being targeted by terrorists.
"As we have the Self-Defense Forces, we hope to make legislation defining how far we can go" to assist the US, Taku Yamasaki, secretary general of Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party, said in a television debate.
The new law may allow Japanese troops to operate on foreign soil -- such as Pakistan and the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia -- on "consent from the countries involved," the Asahi and Yomiuri newspapers said Monday.
A bill on the new law is expected to be submitted to a session of parliament opening on Thursday, the reports said -- TOKYO (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
