HONG KONG: In a move to safeguard its vital oil shipments coming from the Middle East, Japan said Friday that it would deploy two warships to join anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden.‘‘Piracy is a threat to the international community, including Japan, and it is an issue that should be dealt with immediately,’’ the defense minister, Yasukazu Hamada, said Friday in Tokyo.
Two destroyers from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force were due to leave southern Japan on Saturday. They will join a flotilla from the European Union, a task force led by the United States and other navies operating independently in the gulf. China has two destroyers and a supply ship there, and Iran and Russia have mounted anti-piracy patrols as well.
Japan’s pacifist Constitution restricts the activities of its military, although the navy is allowed to conduct policing patrols and protect Japanese vessels. The deployment to the gulf would almost certainly put the destroyers in the position of having to aid ships from other nations, and Hamada said new legislation would be submitted to Parliament to extend the navy’s mandate...more..http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/13/asia/japan.php
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