Japan opposition wants bigger global security role

Democratic Party of Japan shadow cabinet defence minister Keiichi Asao speaks during an interview at his office in Tokyo. Japan would play a more active role in global security if the opposition wins upcoming elections but also seek better diplomacy to bring peace to Afghanistan, Asao said.
(AFP/Kyoko Hasegawa)

by Kyoko Hasegawa
Mon Oct 13, 1:42 AM ET

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan would play a more active role in global security if the opposition wins upcoming elections and would also seek better diplomacy to bring peace to Afghanistan, the shadow defence minister said.



The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has been gaining ground in opinion polls, raising the prospect of the fall of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party which has ruled for all but 10 months since 1955.

Keiichi Asao, the defence minister in the Democrats' shadow cabinet, said he would maintain support for the United States -- which stations more than 40,000 troops in officially pacifist Japan -- but with a different attitude.

"The DPJ regards the the Japan-US alliance as very important," Asao told AFP in an interview.

"But we think that Japan should say what it needs to say to the United States. In return, we will be involved at the frontlines in UN activities.

"Our use of force will need to be endorsed not only by the United States but also by the international community as a whole, namely the United Nations," he added.



Japan has long pushed for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council to bolster its influence in global affairs. A previous bid to join flopped due to strong opposition by China, the only Asian nation in the elite club.

At 44, Asao is young for a Japanese politician. A former banker, he earned a master's degree in business administration from Stanford University in California.

Asao called for a new way of thinking about the Taliban, which is waging a bloody insurgency against Afghan leaders and foreign troops in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"Theoretically we could join ISAF, but the party has not concluded on joining it because we don't think ISAF is contributing to building peace in Afghanistan," Asao said.

He called for a greater focus on diplomacy, saying it was a mistake to view the Taliban as simply the extremist regime ousted in the US-led war after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"What's important in improving the Afghan situation is to offer diplomatic support to talks between President Hamid Karzai's government and the Taliban," Asao said. "We don't think of the Taliban as a monolithic group."

Karzai has called the Taliban to the negotiating table to end the violence on condition they accept his government's constitution and are not involved with Al-Qaeda.

Japan is one of the largest donors to Afghanistan, pledging 1.24 billion dollars since the fall of the Taliban.

Japan was barred from using force under the constitution imposed by US occupiers after World War II. But leaders from the ruling party have pushed for the country to play a larger role in international security.

Most controversially, former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi sent troops on a non-combat humanitarian mission to Iraq, the first time since 1945 that Japan has deployed forces to a country where fighting is underway.

The DPJ strongly opposed the Iraq war and the Japanese mission to the country.

After taking power of one house of parliament last year, the opposition also briefly forced a halt to a separate naval mission in the Indian Ocean providing fuel and other logistical support to the US-led "war on terror" in Afghanistan.

The opposition will let the bill pass through parliament this time in hopes of pressuring Prime Minister Taro Aso -- who listed renewing mission and reviving the ailing economy as top priorities -- to call an election quickly.

Shadow prime minister Ichiro Ozawa, the DPJ chief and a veteran political strategist, argued that the Indian Ocean naval mission amounted to Japan taking part in "American wars."

But Ozawa proposed last year sending troops into ISAF.

While certainly more dangerous than refuelling at sea, Ozawa argued ISAF was different as the mission was backed by a UN resolution.

The proposal was put on the backburner after criticism both within and outside the DPJ.