Japan Debates How Much Aid It Can Provide

The Japanese government is locked in closed-door debate over how far to go with its economic assistance in the Middle East crisis and must surmount “legal obstacles” before it can offer money directly to the United States to pay for U.S. military operations, an official said Friday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Taizo Watanabe confirmed that the administration of Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu is giving serious consideration to providing funds to the United States that would be earmarked for supporting U.S. troops deployed in the Persian Gulf.

But he suggested that Japan, which is forbidden by its postwar constitution to send military forces overseas, is groping for a way to make the gesture consistent with a pacifist posture in foreign affairs.

“We have never contributed money to U.S. forces overseas except as host-nation support (in Japan),” Watanabe told a news conference. “It’s something unprecedented. We need to get consensus on what should be done.”

Japan joined the United States and Western allies in an economic boycott of Iraq. However, it has come under fire from critics in the U.S. Congress who say it is not sharing its burden in contributing toward the U.S.-led military response to Iraqi aggression. Japan imports about 70% of its oil from the Middle East.

Watanabe said that besides possible direct assistance, another measure under consideration would be to offset increased U.S. military costs by raising the amount of host-nation support that Tokyo pays toward the upkeep of the 55,000 U.S. troops stationed on Japanese soil.

He said direct payments in support of military activities in the Persian Gulf region would pose far less of a dilemma for Japan if U.S. and allied troops were placed under command of the United Nations.

“If these were U.N. forces, all these legal problems would be solved easily,” Watanabe said.

A request by the United States that Japan send minesweepers to the gulf was taken into consideration but “was not discussed on a high priority,” he said.

The decision on Japan’s contribution to the multinational intervention in the Middle East crisis has been delayed, meanwhile, because the leaders of several gulf states have made aid requests that raise legal problems, Watanabe said.

He did not elaborate on the reasons for the delay but said an announcement could come as soon as this weekend or early next week.

Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama is scheduled to return to Japan today after visiting the region and hearing a series of requests that would involve billions of dollars worth of Japanese economic assistance for countries most hurt by the international blockade of Iraq.

The financial components of the aid would pose no apparent policy contradictions, but the dispatch of non-military personnel such as medical teams has also been discussed. There have been few precedents for sending Japanese personnel into war zones, and some elements in Japan’s conservative bureaucracy apparently are insisting that laws must be revised to allow such a deployment.

But a proposal is under study that would go beyond past cases in which Japan contributed personnel to peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan and Namibia, Watanabe said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Misoji Sakamoto issued a statement Friday condemning Iraq for its continued detention of about 420 Japanese nationals and other foreigners, which he called an “unpardonable act.”

Sakamoto, who is the top spokesman for the Kaifu administration, also said Japan is preparing a package of “concrete measures” to fulfill its role in “contributing to the recovery of peace” in the gulf region.

Asked whether Iraq’s treatment of Japanese detainees is in any way linked to the preparation of these measures, Watanabe said: “Our position is that those two are separate issues. They should not be mixed together. It’s wrong to assume concern for the former could affect the latter.”