TOKYO, OCT. 7. The Japanese Navy will soon be empowered to board and inspect vessels even without a United Nations Security Council resolution authorising such action. Under U.S. pressure, the three parties which form the ruling coalition under the Liberal Democratic Party will submit a Bill any day now to seek legislative sanction behind the measure.
Officially called the Maritime Self-defence Force (MSDF), the Japanese navy is also forming a 60-member special operations force. The Special Guard Force, as it is being called, will comprise three platoons and will be trained by the U.S. SEALs (the sea, air, land special forces). Like most such forces, the names of individuals selected for the unit will be kept secret. The Navy is also planning to replace its old propeller driven P3C anti-submarine planes of which it has 80, made under licence from the U.S. The Defence Agency is also studying the idea of replacing the navy's missile escort ships with the sophisticated computer-assisted air defence Aegis escort ships.
Japan currently has four Aegis missile ships but considering that it takes five years to build an Aegis vessel, an early decision is required before these four retire in 2010. The Aegis is also the platform that will bear the controversial Theatre Missile Defence, if it is decided to deploy the system once research is concluded. A prominent pro-active regional role with the U.S., a leadership role on anti-piracy measures and greatly increased Chinese naval activity have encouraged the MSDF to widen its role and raise its profile. The same factors have prompted the public to bless such a role. That is one reason why within two days of the arrest of a naval officer last month for allegedly providing documents to a Russian defence attache, the Japanese MSDF could carry out a scheduled exercise in Kamchatka with Russia's navy, without any public uproar.
A Japanese submarine, a submarine rescue support vessel and a deep submergence rescue vessel (DSRV) are currently taking part in "Exercise Pacific Reach 2000," a joint submarine exercise in the South China sea with the navies of South Korea, Singapore and the U.S. Navy. This venture had drawn a comment last May in the weekly edition of the Chinese People's Liberation Army daily, which said Japan's participation was "a dangerous signal" offering further proof of "the ghost of militarism stirring on the Japanese archipelago."
Ghost or not, the Japanese navy is most certainly reminding the region that historically it has been the most prominent arm of the defence forces, not to mention that it is by far Asia's most powerful navy. Pearl Harbour and the Russo-Japan war of 1905, if not beyond, are historical reminders about its reach, if any were needed. The important point now is that the Government and the public have chosen to remove the navy's shackles.
The Bill to empower ship inspections is a year overdue. It was to form part of a regional contingency security law, which itself was the main legislative instrument in the U.S.-Japan revised defence guidelines related laws. Owing to disagreement among the three coalition partners, the contingency law was passed but without the ship inspections issue.
The earlier draft linked inspections specifically to a Security Council resolution, but legislators called that impractical because for instance, China as a member with veto powers would not allow a Japanese force to board a North Korean vessel.
The new Bill will now authorise Japan, under special circumstances bearing on national security to check the cargo, inspect documents and even seek to divert vessels from their destination without a Council resolution giving specific authority, but preferably with consent of the target vessel.
The decision to set up a special operations force is part of the five-year defence modernisation beginning April next year. The immediate trigger to establish such a unit came a year and a half back when the coast guard, known as the Maritime Safety Agency, found it had not even the authority to fire to disable when two vessels, supposedly from North Korea, entered Japanese waters and escaped when given chase. The new force will be allowed to use force and disarm intruding vessels and even board them directly from helicopters.