Friday, Aug. 10, 2007WASHINGTON (Kyodo) Defense Minister Yuriko Koike vowed Wednesday to work to ensure the extension of a law that allows the Maritime Self-Defense Force to provide logistic support in the Indian Ocean to warships involved in the NATO-led antiterrorism drive in Afghanistan.
She made the remark to reporters after emerging from a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Gates, for his part, said the United States welcomes Japan's active contributions to such efforts.
Photo: Defense Minister Yuriko Koike meets Wednesday with her U.S. counterpart, Robert Gates, at the Pentagon in Washington.The legislation in question was enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. The two-year law has been extended three times to allow MSDF vessels to deploy to the Indian Ocean to provide fuel to multinational forces involved in the antiterrorism operations.
However, in Tokyo Wednesday, Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa rejected a request by U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer to agree to extend the law beyond its Nov. 1 expiration.
The DPJ became the largest party in the House of Councilors as a result of the July 29 election. This newfound clout could hamper legislative efforts, although the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc, to which Koike belongs, still controls the more powerful Lower House, and thus can hold ultimate sway.
Koike in turn criticized Ozawa, saying he is repeating the same remarks he made around the time of the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s.
"His calendar seems to have stopped," Koike told reporters when asked about the DPJ's opposition to extending the antiterrorism law.
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