Antipiracy law authorizing SDF protection of any ship enacted+

TOKYO, June 19 Kyodo -
The Diet enacted an antipiracy law Friday authorizing the Self-Defense Forces
to protect any commercial ship from pirates, regardless of its connection to
Japan.

Currently, Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers operating in the
pirate-infested waters off Somalia are only authorized to protect
Japanese-related commercial ships under the Self-Defense Forces Law.
Earlier in the day, the opposition-controlled House of Councillors voted down
the government-sponsored bill during its plenary session.
But the more powerful House of Representatives later approved the bill for a
second time on the strength of the two-thirds majority of the Liberal
Democratic Party-New Komeito party ruling coalition.
The measure was passed in this way under a provision in the Constitution that
stipulates the predominance of the lower house in legislative matters. The
lower house originally approved it in April.
The government plans to switch the legal basis for the antipiracy operations
from the maritime police action provision of the SDF law once the antipiracy
law takes effect in late July, according to government officials.
''This law will enable Japan to protect from pirates not just Japanese-related
ships but those from any country and to punish acts of piracy as Japanese
criminal acts,'' Prime Minister Taro Aso said in a statement.
''As a result, Japan will be able to counter piracy more appropriately and
effectively in coordination with other countries,'' he said, pledging to
implement antipiracy operations in accordance with the new law ''as soon as
possible.''
Following the enactment, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered the MSDF to
prepare to dispatch another set of destroyers to the waters off the Horn of
Africa so that they can begin escorting ships in accordance with the new law.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan pressed for the addition of a
provision to the legislation that would require Diet approval before the SDF is
dispatched on an antipiracy mission, but the ruling bloc rejected the idea.
The new law authorizes the SDF to protect from piracy foreign-flagged
commercial ships unrelated to Japan, in addition to Japanese-flagged commercial
ships, foreign ships with Japanese nationals or shipments aboard and others
operated by Japanese firms.
It also enables the SDF to open fire on pirate vessels that, despite warning
shots, continue to close in on other ships. Under the SDF law, the SDF can fire
warning shots but not inflict damage on pirates except in limited
circumstances, such as self-defense.
Opposition parties have criticized the legislation, saying it will enable the
government to dispatch the SDF abroad at will so long as its mission is to
counter piracy.
Sending the SDF abroad is a sensitive issue in Japan given constitutional
limits on the use of force.
The new set of MSDF destroyers to be dispatched following Friday's enactment
are the Amagiri and the Harusame, which belong to the 2nd Escort Flotilla based
in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, according to government officials.
They are expected to set sail for the Gulf of Aden at the end of this month or
later to replace the two MSDF destroyers currently operating in the waters
around mid-July, they said.
The 3,500-ton Amagiri and the 4,550-ton Harusame will initially be sent and
will escort Japanese-related vessels on the basis of the maritime police action
provision but will execute their mission according to the antipiracy law from
late July, they added.
The 4,650-ton Sazanami and the 4,550-ton Samidare were sent to the gulf in
March as a maritime police action. At the time, the government described their
deployment under the provision as a stop-gap measure taken in the absence of a
more suitable law to back antipiracy operations.
Two P-3C patrol planes have also been deployed to the African country of
Djibouti to conduct surveillance missions over the gulf and provide relevant
information to MSDF destroyers and the commercial ships they escort.
==Kyodo