by Yusuke Fukui and Sachiko Miwa
The ministry is considering increasing the duties assigned to the base in East Africa and making it the operational center for SDF troops in the region on the assumption that Japan will continue utilizing it on a long-term basis.
“Based on the government’s principle of ‘proactive pacifism,’ it is a natural matter of course to develop a strategy to utilize more of the SDF’s lone foreign operational base,” said a senior Defense Ministry official. “From the perspectives of cooperation with the U.S. military and NATO forces and sharing terrorism-related information with these forces, it will be to Japan’s benefit to increase functions of the base.”
The plans include mobilizing light armored vehicles at the base to rescue Japanese citizens by land routes, expanding parking aprons to transport Japanese nationals by government aircraft and SDF transport planes, and sending surveillance aircraft in emergency situations, sources said.
The Defense Ministry plans to map out details of the project in conjunction with Diet deliberations on the national security framework and earmark construction and other necessary expenses in the fiscal 2016 budget.
The ministry has allocated 30 million yen ($256,100) for research expenses in the budget draft for fiscal 2015 to conduct studies on how the United States, Britain and France are utilizing their outlying bases. It will also study the construction and maintenance costs of the reinforced base in Djibouti.
The ministry sources said the strengthened Djibouti base will be Japan’s de-facto “outlying base,” and is in line with efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration to enhance the role of the SDF in international efforts.
Japan opened the anti-piracy base in Djibouti in June 2011 on a 12-hectare plot it rents from the largely Islamic country adjoining Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport.
It has built a command headquarters, boarding facilities, parking apron for three P-3C maritime surveillance aircraft and a hangar to accommodate an airplane at a cost of 4.7 billion yen.
Based on the anti-piracy law, the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s air unit that operates two surveillance aircraft, comprising about 110 members, is stationed at the base on a four-month rotational basis to ensure the safe passage of passenger and commercial ships through the treacherous Gulf of Aden off Somalia.
About 70 Ground Self-Defense Force troops tasked with guarding the base are also stationed there.
High-ranking Defense Ministry and SDF officials said that they are considering allowing SDF troops to use the base for disaster relief and U.N. peacekeeping activities, in addition to anti-piracy missions.
The base is also projected to accommodate SDF troops that are dispatched from Japan in the event of emergencies and terrorism activity, and also serve as a logistics hub to transport goods to Africa and the Middle East in the event of such a need.
The government plans to stipulate the Djibouti base’s extended functions through amending the Self-Defense Forces Law and other legislation as part of its ongoing effort to review the legal framework for national security.
In addition to the SDF base, Djibouti hosts the only U.S. military base in Africa and a French base, along with troops of NATO member countries.
Source: THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
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