Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08TOKYO216
2008-01-28 09:00:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tokyo
Cable title:
PERMANENT DISPATCH LAW: POLITICAL CONSULTATIONS
how-toVZCZCXRO2450 PP RUEHDT RUEHPB DE RUEHKO #0216/01 0280900 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 280900Z JAN 08 FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1290 INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI PRIORITY RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO PRIORITY 6353 RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA PRIORITY 8141 RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA PRIORITY 5745 RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE PRIORITY 9412 RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY RHMFISS/USFJ PRIORITY RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 8051
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 000216
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS UN JA
SUBJECT: PERMANENT DISPATCH LAW: POLITICAL CONSULTATIONS
CONTINUE
TOKYO 00000216 001.2 OF 002
Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer per 1.4 (b/d)
Summary
-------
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 000216
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS UN JA
SUBJECT: PERMANENT DISPATCH LAW: POLITICAL CONSULTATIONS
CONTINUE
TOKYO 00000216 001.2 OF 002
Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer per 1.4 (b/d)
Summary
--------------
1. (C) The government and ruling Liberal Democratic Party
continue to lay the groundwork for passing a Permanent
Dispatch Law that would allow Japan to send Self-Defense
Forces units overseas in support of peacekeeping operations,
according to Ambassador Toshiro Ozawa, head of Japan's
International Peace Cooperation Office. This law would
obviate the need for the kind of mission-specific legislation
with time limits that has heretofore been the legal basis for
certain overseas activities, including OEF refueling
operations. The government and ruling Liberal Democratic
Party are holding discussions with ruling coalition partner
Komeito, whose traditional pacifist stance on national
security issues has made them chary of granting too wide a
latitude on dispatching the SDF. Ironically, the opposition
Democratic Party of Japan and LDP are not far apart on this
issue, but the current domestic political situation may
prevent them from realizing what in principle they basically
agree Japan needs. End Summary.
Draft Permanent Dispatch Law Legislation
--------------
2. (C) The Japanese Government continues to lay the
groundwork for the passage of a Permanent Dispatch Law, which
would allow Japan to send Self-Defense Forces units overseas
in support of peacekeeping operations without relying on
Special Measures Laws and other legislation with specific
time limits, Ambassador Toshiro Ozawa, Director General of
the Cabinet Office's International Peace Cooperation
Headquarters, told Embassy Tokyo on January 25. By way of
background, Ozawa explained that former Chief Cabinet
Secretary (and current Prime Minister) Fukuda established the
SIPDIS
office to provide Japan with surer and more enduring legal
footing on which to increase Japan's participation in
international peacekeeping operations. With the loss of the
Diet's Upper House to the opposition in July 2007, the recent
legislative back-and-forth surrounding OEF-related refueling
operations could become an annual affair, all the more reason
for why Japan needs a Permanent Dispatch Law, Ozawa
explained.
3. (C) By mid-2006, the office had drafted 60 pages of
detailed legislation on the scope and modalities of Japan's
participation in international peacekeeping operations. The
draft legislation was forwarded to the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party's (LDP) Defense Policy Subcommittee, which
subsequently endorsed the legislation. However, the
legislation stopped there, and was not further coordinated
within the party's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committees,
nor with the LDP's Policy Affairs Research Council, Ozawa
said.
Political Consultations
--------------
4. (C) Beginning in October 2007, the government and LDP made
a renewed push for the law, and Prime Minister Fukuda
consulted with both opposition Democratic Party of Japan
(DPJ) head Ichiro Ozawa and ruling coalition partner Komeito
head Akihiro Ota, Ambassador Ozawa continued. Komeito's
traditional pacifist stance on national security issues has
required lengthy consultations, and Ozawa and his staff have
met twice already this month with Komeito leadership to
discuss general PKO issues, the draft law's legal and
constitutional basis regarding the use of force and the role
of the Diet in the decisionmaking process. Once these
consultations are complete, the goal is for the LDP and
Komeito to have a joint meeting, perhaps in February, to
discuss and reach agreement on a draft law.
5. (C) Although the ruling and opposition parties are far
apart on many issues, they are more or less on the same page
regarding the need for a Permanent Dispatch Law, DPJ Diet
member and national security expert Akihisa Nagashima told
Embassy Tokyo on January 24. That said, although the two
sides should in principle be able to reach some kind of
accord on the draft law's contents, the current political
TOKYO 00000216 002.2 OF 002
situation makes it difficult to say whether they will
actually be able to do so. Peace Cooperation HQ DG Ozawa
echoed Nagashima's point, noting that with the possibility of
a general election this year, "it is still unclear what we
will be able to achieve."
SCHIEFFER
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS UN JA
SUBJECT: PERMANENT DISPATCH LAW: POLITICAL CONSULTATIONS
CONTINUE
TOKYO 00000216 001.2 OF 002
Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer per 1.4 (b/d)
Summary
--------------
1. (C) The government and ruling Liberal Democratic Party
continue to lay the groundwork for passing a Permanent
Dispatch Law that would allow Japan to send Self-Defense
Forces units overseas in support of peacekeeping operations,
according to Ambassador Toshiro Ozawa, head of Japan's
International Peace Cooperation Office. This law would
obviate the need for the kind of mission-specific legislation
with time limits that has heretofore been the legal basis for
certain overseas activities, including OEF refueling
operations. The government and ruling Liberal Democratic
Party are holding discussions with ruling coalition partner
Komeito, whose traditional pacifist stance on national
security issues has made them chary of granting too wide a
latitude on dispatching the SDF. Ironically, the opposition
Democratic Party of Japan and LDP are not far apart on this
issue, but the current domestic political situation may
prevent them from realizing what in principle they basically
agree Japan needs. End Summary.
Draft Permanent Dispatch Law Legislation
--------------
2. (C) The Japanese Government continues to lay the
groundwork for the passage of a Permanent Dispatch Law, which
would allow Japan to send Self-Defense Forces units overseas
in support of peacekeeping operations without relying on
Special Measures Laws and other legislation with specific
time limits, Ambassador Toshiro Ozawa, Director General of
the Cabinet Office's International Peace Cooperation
Headquarters, told Embassy Tokyo on January 25. By way of
background, Ozawa explained that former Chief Cabinet
Secretary (and current Prime Minister) Fukuda established the
SIPDIS
office to provide Japan with surer and more enduring legal
footing on which to increase Japan's participation in
international peacekeeping operations. With the loss of the
Diet's Upper House to the opposition in July 2007, the recent
legislative back-and-forth surrounding OEF-related refueling
operations could become an annual affair, all the more reason
for why Japan needs a Permanent Dispatch Law, Ozawa
explained.
3. (C) By mid-2006, the office had drafted 60 pages of
detailed legislation on the scope and modalities of Japan's
participation in international peacekeeping operations. The
draft legislation was forwarded to the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party's (LDP) Defense Policy Subcommittee, which
subsequently endorsed the legislation. However, the
legislation stopped there, and was not further coordinated
within the party's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committees,
nor with the LDP's Policy Affairs Research Council, Ozawa
said.
Political Consultations
--------------
4. (C) Beginning in October 2007, the government and LDP made
a renewed push for the law, and Prime Minister Fukuda
consulted with both opposition Democratic Party of Japan
(DPJ) head Ichiro Ozawa and ruling coalition partner Komeito
head Akihiro Ota, Ambassador Ozawa continued. Komeito's
traditional pacifist stance on national security issues has
required lengthy consultations, and Ozawa and his staff have
met twice already this month with Komeito leadership to
discuss general PKO issues, the draft law's legal and
constitutional basis regarding the use of force and the role
of the Diet in the decisionmaking process. Once these
consultations are complete, the goal is for the LDP and
Komeito to have a joint meeting, perhaps in February, to
discuss and reach agreement on a draft law.
5. (C) Although the ruling and opposition parties are far
apart on many issues, they are more or less on the same page
regarding the need for a Permanent Dispatch Law, DPJ Diet
member and national security expert Akihisa Nagashima told
Embassy Tokyo on January 24. That said, although the two
sides should in principle be able to reach some kind of
accord on the draft law's contents, the current political
TOKYO 00000216 002.2 OF 002
situation makes it difficult to say whether they will
actually be able to do so. Peace Cooperation HQ DG Ozawa
echoed Nagashima's point, noting that with the possibility of
a general election this year, "it is still unclear what we
will be able to achieve."
SCHIEFFER