Takaichi Ready to Carefully Discuss SDF Dispatch with Party Heads

Tokyo, March 17 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi showed her readiness Tuesday to discuss carefully with political party heads a possible dispatch of Self-Defense Forces to the Middle East. “Depending on the circumstance, some missions may require approval from the Diet,” Japan’s parliament, Takaichi told the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet. “In such cases, I would like to have careful discussions with as many representatives of each party and parliamentary group as possible.” Makoto Nishida, secretary-general of Komeito, an opposition party, stressed the need to discuss how to address the Middle East situation, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for ship escorts in the Strait of Hormuz. In response, Takaichi said, “The government is actively considering what it can do within legal limits.” Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not ask Japan to dispatch a warship during their telephone talks Monday night. On Monday, Trump once again called on Japan and other nations to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transportation waterway that Iran has largely blocked. Speaking to reporters at the White House, he said that Japan imports the majority of its oil through the strait. Elsewhere at Tuesday’s Budget Committee meeting, Takaichi said that the Japanese economy has “reached the stage of transitioning from a cost-cutting economy to a growth economy.” “We will break away from the trend of excessive austerity and insufficient investment,” she emphasized. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]