Dec 26 04:27 AM US/Eastern(AP) - TOKYO, Dec. 26 (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Taro Aso ordered Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Friday to consider sending Self-Defense Forces vessels on an antipiracy mission to waters off Somalia, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said.
After building a consensus within the ruling coalition, the government may issue an order for "maritime policing activity" in accordance with the Self-Defense Forces Law as early as in January with a view to providing protection against pirates for Japanese ships from sometime in February.
If realized, it would be the first dispatch overseas by Japan of a defense force ship for policing activities at sea. But it remains unclear if the Defense Ministry will warm to such a plan.
"I received an instruction from Prime Minister Aso that we accelerate the work of consideration so that the SDF can swiftly deal with the piracy issue," Hamada told a news conference.
Hamada noted, however, that the prime minister did not specify in his instructions what shape the dispatch should take or when it should be made.
"Although maritime policing activity has been given a focus since yesterday, that is just one option we will be considering," he said, indicating his reluctance to dispatch the SDF under the framework.
Hamada said a dispatch for maritime policing may not be suitable from the viewpoint of international coordination because such an operation would be restricted to safeguarding Japanese-registered ships or Japanese nationals under threat.
The defense minister also pointed out the need to consider how the SDF can deal with heavily armed pirates given the limits placed on the use of force during maritime policing activities.
The government is expected to consider preparing legislation that would allow SDF ships to act under circumstances in which a foreign ship comes under attack.
But it is uncertain whether such legislation will proceed smoothly given the political logjam resulting from opposition control of the House of Councillors.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura said the government has yet to decide on when to send a fact-finding mission to the region, while Hamada dismissed the need to send such a mission "now."
Regarding persistent doubts about an SDF dispatch overseas involving possible use of force under Japan's war-renouncing Constitution, the government's top spokesman also said a possible SDF mission abroad would not pose a constitutional problem.
"We are dealing with pirates here. No constitutional issues should arise because this is not at all about acting against a sovereign state or a party similar to it," Kawamura said.
On Thursday, Aso said the government should consider the possibility of amending the SDF law to enable SDF ships to protect foreign ships as part of maritime policing activities.
He then floated the idea of issuing a maritime policing order as a stopgap measure to allow the SDF to engage in such activities in waters off Somalia for the time being because an amendment would take time.
Maritime policing missions are ordered by the defense minister with the approval of the prime minister. Once an order is issued, SDF personnel can conduct policing activities at sea in place of the Japan Coast Guard to protect people's lives and property and to maintain order.
Maritime policing, however, has restrictions such as on the use of weapons. Weapons may only be used for self-defense or in emergency evacuations.
An order for maritime policing was first issued in 1999 when two North Korean spy boats disguised as Japanese fishing boats entered Japanese territorial waters off Ishikawa Prefecture in the Sea of Japan. At that time, Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers fired warning shots but the boats fled.
Government officials and lawmakers have been discussing the possible dispatch of the SDF as other countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, have sent naval ships to crack down on pirates. China dispatched navy ships to the waters on Friday.
Piracy incidents have increased substantially this year in the waters off Somalia, reaching 101 as of Dec. 5, up from 44 last year, according to the Foreign Ministry.
More than 60 percent of global piracy incidents this year occurred in waters near Africa, especially off the coast of Somalia and in the nearby Gulf of Aden, the ministry said.
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