Japan to Mull Sending SDF Minesweepers Depending on Situation

Tokyo, March 25 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday that her government will in the future examine the possibility of dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to the Strait of Hormuz for a minesweeping mission while analyzing the situation of the time. Whether to dispatch SDF minesweepers “has to be decided depending on the situation at that time and based on law,” Takaichi told a House of Councillors Budget Committee meeting. The SDF would be able to conduct the mission under the SDF law if the mines are abandoned, but removing mines during fighting would not be possible as this would be taken as “combat action against the country that laid them,” the prime minister continued. Observing that the situation in Iran is changing every moment, she noted that “it’s too early to say at this point” whether Japan would deploy the SDF. In this regard, Takaichi denied a U.S. claim that she pledged to provide SDF assistance in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s request for Japan’s contribution to securing freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz during their talks in Washington last week. “I have never promised SDF support,” the prime minister said while declining to give details. Evaluating the summit, Takaichi said it was a “great achievement” for the two leaders to confirm concrete cooperation in enhancing the quality of the Japan-U.S. alliance in a wide range of areas, including security and the economy. She also said she came up with the remark “Only Donald can bring peace and prosperity to the world,” which she made during the meeting, after considering what to say to Trump without sleep on the plane to Washington. Asked to explain her stance toward the long-standing issue of abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents, Takaichi reiterated her openness to holding a summit with Kim Jong Un, the leader of the reclusive nation. “Without ruling out any options, I want to make a breakthrough and resolve the abduction issue by all means,” Takaichi said. At the same meeting in the upper chamber of parliament, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi brushed aside Sanseito head Sohei Kamiya’s request for Tokyo’s negotiations with Tehran for Japanese tankers’ safe Hormuz passage. “(The Hormuz blockade) matters to not only Japan,” Motegi said. “It is extremely important that freedom of navigation is secured as a whole.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]