Roundup: Japan's ruling coalition at odds over Abe's plans to expand SDF overseas roles

Japan's ruling coalition parties discussed on Friday whether the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) should be allowed to play an expanded role in overseas operations and even without a UN mandate in certain scenarios.

The second round of talks on security legislation, ahead of the government's plan to submit more than 10 security and defense logistic-related bills to the Diet by the end of June, come at a time when Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Shinzo Abe, is pushing for the SDF to be able to play a more proactive role oversees.

The ruling party has also floated the idea of a permanent law allowing the SDF to be deployed overseas to provide logistical support to foreign militaries, but the small Komeito coalition partner has expressed its reservations, insisting Japan should not deploy its troops to support foreign militaries engaged in hostilities.

Komeito representatives said the only scenario in which such logistical support should be provided was one in which the foreign militaries were operating under UN resolutions - an unlikely case being that the UN rarely authorizes resolutions that condone the use of force.

Japan's pacifist constitution bans the SDF from using force to settle international disputes, including logistical support to foreign militaries involved in conflicts.

But since July last year, Abe's government has been working on an amendment to the war-renouncing constitution to allow Japan's forces the right to collective self-defense and an expanded role in overseas operations.

But following the Cabinet's unilateral move to reinterpret the nation's constitution, the Komeito party, as well as opposition parties and the public, have called for more debates in the Diet on the matter, before any agreement on new security legislation is made.

Kazuo Kitagawa, Komeito deputy chief, told the session that work towards creating new legislation cannot go ahead without "a rigorous debate on the requirements, purposes and procedures for SDF operations."

A special proviso made in 1999 allows for the SDF to provide logistical support to the U.S. military in areas close to Japan. The law was initially passed to allow Japan to be better prepared for any situations that may occur on the Korean Peninsula.

But sources close to the matter said the government is mulling expanding this law and retracing the geographical limitations, so that, in theory, Japanese forces could provide logistical support to the United States and Australia, for example, in hostile locations overseas.

Inconsistencies in the wording of the restrictions on the SDF were deliberated in the Diet Friday, with Komeito lawmakers arguing that it was important to maintain consistency with former governments' rulings, which decreed the SDF's restrictions were focused more on "situation" rather than "geography" but operations in the Middle East and the Indian Ocean would not be permitted.

LDP Vice President Masahiko Komura, who chairs the security talks and is of a similar opinion to Abe that Japan needs to do more to "contribute to global peace and security," also heard proposals traversing the idea of the SDF operating without the backing of the UN Security Council, as regards the possible permanent law, and lifting the ban on sourcing foreign militaries with weapons, was also debated.

Japan is only permitted to provide transportation, fuel, medicine and water as logistical support to overseas troops, but an amendment to the law may, however, see SDF troops permitted to use weapons in combat scenarios where an ally was under attack or civilians needed rescuing.

Abe has been upping his rhetoric on expanding the SDF's role overseas and more so recently since two Japanese men were captured and allegedly killed by the Islamic State militant group. One of the killings came just days after Abe, while on a Mideast tour pledged 200 million U.S. dollars in humanitarian aid, to support civilians fleeing from IS-held regions.

An IS representative, who said the money was sent to help eradicate the group and to "kill Muslims," promised more reprisals on Japan following the slaying of the two Japanese hostages, .

Abe, who has stuck to his maxim of "never giving in" to terrorism, said he wants Japan's troops to be better able to rescue Japanese nationals overseas, were similar kidnappings to take place in the future.

On Tuesday, Japan announced a new set of countermeasures, including financial aid of 15.5 million U.S. dollars to fight terrorism in Middle Eastern and African countries, where militant groups like the IS are known to operate.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said the new measures were part of a renewed effort by Japan to combat terrorism in those regions, and support other anti-terrorism initiatives in certain Middle Eastern and African countries, spanning border control and establishing investigation legal systems.

A week earlier, Abe's government passed a new charter allowing funds from the nation's Official Development Assistance (ODA) program to be used to give support to foreign troops involved in exclusively non-combat operations.

The charter's approval marked Japan's first amendment to its foreign aid charter since 2003 and lifted restrictions on foreign financial assistance that could be used to help bankroll international conflicts.

Political pundits and defense analysts have suggested that one of the prime minister's primary objectives is to bring about the constitutional and legislative changes necessary to remilitarize Japan as he has started doing this in tangible steps, such as boosting military spending in January to its highest level since World War II.

Contrary to Abe's hopes of firing up Japan's war machine, however, recent polls show the majority of Japanese are ardently against changing the pacifist constitution and reject the government's ideas of expanding the SDF's roles overseas. Endi