Jun 29 09:34 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, June 29 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force will join multilateral antipiracy drills under a U.S.-led Pacific Rim military exercise, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
It will be the first time that the MSDF participates in a multilateral session of the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, or RIMPAC, it said. Japan has previously only held bilateral drills with the U.S. Navy when participating in the biennial exercise, given the constraints of its pacifist Constitution.
The government interprets the Constitution as prohibiting Japan from exercising the right to collective self-defense and participation in multilateral drills is viewed as contravening the ban.
The ministry said, however, that it views international antipiracy efforts as a policing action that is not categorized as collective defense. The planned drills are not aimed at military action against a specific nation, it added.
RIMPAC 2010, hosted by the United States, began last Wednesday in waters off Hawaii with the participation of allied military forces from 13 other countries. It is scheduled to last until August 1.
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