Japan to begin antipiracy operations under new law from Wed.+

TOKYO, July 24 Kyodo -
Japan's Self-Defense Forces will begin antipiracy operations off Somalia around
next Wednesday under a new law that took effect Friday to authorize them to
escort commercial ships of any nationality, regardless of their connection to
Japan.

With the law coming into force, the legal basis for Maritime Self-Defense Force
operations will be switched from the maritime police action provision of the
SDF Law to the new antipiracy law, which was enacted on June 19.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered the SDF on Friday to counter piracy
under the new law. The government endorsed antipiracy operations for the
one-year period through July 23, 2010.
Hamada told a press conference the SDF will be able to ''tackle piracy more
appropriately and efficiently,'' and expected that the Japanese forces will
continue to cooperate with counterparts from other countries in implementing
their mission.
Under the new law, MSDF destroyers will be allowed to open fire on pirate boats
that, despite warning shots, close in on commercial ships. Still, they cannot
harm pirates except in limited circumstances, such as in self-defense.
The new law also expands the scope of ships that can be protected by the MSDF
to foreign-flagged commercial ships unrelated to Japan.
So far, only those connected to Japan, such as Japanese-flagged ships and
foreign-registered ships operated by Japanese firms, have been entitled to
escorts.
To date, two MSDF destroyers have escorted a total of 121 vessels over 41
occasions in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden since the start of their
operations on March 30.
Two MSDF P-3C surveillance airplanes have also been providing patrol flights
over the gulf and conveying information on suspicious ships to commercial ships
and foreign navies since June 11.
The planes relayed information about 110 times and most of the times, the P-3Cs
confirmed suspicious ships were not likely to be pirates' vessels, Defense
Ministry officials said.
The MSDF has also helped foreign vessels with no connection to Japan repel
suspicious ships six times as ''humanitarian acts'' based on the seamen's law.
The 4,550-ton Harusame and the 3,500-ton Amagiri, MSDF destroyers that left
their bases in Japan on July 6, are scheduled to take over escort duties from
the two other destroyers currently in operation, which will return to Japan
around mid-August.
A total of about 420 personnel, including eight Japan Coast Guard officers and
members of the Special Boarding Unit, the MSDF's commando force, are aboard the
Harusame and the Amagiri.
The new law stipulates the SDF will be ordered to counter piracy only when
coast guard officials cannot fend off pirates. The Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism Ministry, to which the JCG belongs, issued a statement
Friday to claim it is difficult for coast guard officials to effectively fight
against pirates in areas off Somalia.
Piracy is rampant in the gulf and off the eastern Somali coast, where sea
bandits, often armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, are known to
hijack commercial ships and demand huge sums of money for the release of the
vessels and crew.
Countries such as the United States, European Union nations, Russia and China
have sent their navies to the region to patrol against pirates.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan had called for a provision in the
law to require Diet approval before dispatching the SDF on antipiracy missions,
but the demand was rejected by the ruling camp.
Sending the SDF abroad is a sensitive issue in Japan given limits on the use of
force in the war-renouncing Constitution.
==Kyodo