JAPANESE REQUEST FOR LANGUAGE IN COMMUNIQUE OF THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 004283 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO/UNP, EAP/J E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2017 TAGS: PREL PTER MOPS UN AF JA SUBJECT: JAPANESE REQUEST FOR LANGUAGE IN COMMUNIQUE OF THE HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON AFGHANISTAN REF: A. TOKYO 4263 ¶B. NEW YORK 724 Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer for reasons 1.4(b) and (d ) ¶1. (C) Following up on Foreign Minister Machimura's message to the Ambassador that Japan seeks to strengthen the international reasons to continue to provide Maritime Self Defense Forces support to Operation Enduring Freedom (Ref A), MOFA National Security Division Principal Deputy Director Shingo Miyamoto provided Deputy Political Counselor a copy of language MOFA would like inserted in the final communique to be issued following the September 23 High-Level Meeting on Afghanistan. ¶2. (C) The Japanese would like to see the following sentence inserted in the second operative paragraph dealing with the security situation and terrorist threat: "In this context, the participants stressed the need for sustained international efforts, including those of ISAF, the OEF coalition and its maritime interdiction component." ¶3. (C) Miyamoto stressed that MOFA considers the insertion of this language to be as important as obtaining explicit acknowledgment of the OEF maritime interdiction operation in a new Security Council resolution (Ref B.) ¶4. (C) COMMENT: Despite the domestic political turmoil transpiring in Japan, MOFA and MOD are continuing to plan for the continuation of Maritime Self Defense Force support to OEF. In order to justify thiQto the public, it is critical that OEF is seen to have international legitimacy conveyed by the United Nations and others. The Japanese are therefore aggressively seeking specific mention of the maritime interdiction operation in the ISAF roll-over resolution, the High-Level Meeting communique, and in the upcoming UNAMA report. Embassy Tokyo supports these objectives and urges that efforts be made to assist the Japanese. Schieffer