TOKYO - Japan may send military planes and ships to assist the US-led âwar on terrorâ and reconstruction missions, a report said on Thursday, in what would be a new step away from Tokyoâs post-World War II pacifism.
Japan and the United States are considering expanding the role of Japanâs military to ease the burden on US forces in a plan on the realignment of US forces, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. The two countries want to conclude the interim report this month and aim to reach a final agreement early next year, the business daily quoted Pentagon and Japanese government officials as saying in a dispatch from Washington.
The Nihon Keizai said Japan and the United States were considering deploying Japanâs P3C patrol planes and a destroyer equipped with Aegis naval weapons systems to spy on militants in anti-terrorist operations. Japanese forces would also provide large vessels to transport other countriesâ personnel or heavy machinery to nations rebuilding from war or natural disasters, the newspaper said.
The P3C planes would also head to disaster areas to provide information to US or other forces involved in rescue missions, it said.
A Defence Agency spokesman said Japan was studying what roles the military would share with the United States but declined comment on specific items under consideration. |