Kaifu Outlines Plan for Japanese Personnel in Gulf

Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu outlined draft legislation Thursday for a U.N. Peace Cooperation Corps that, if approved by Parliament, could provide a structure for sending Japanese military personnel to the Persian Gulf or to other international trouble spots.

The measure provides that any troops used in this way would remove their military uniforms and assume noncombat duties under civilian control. They probably would not carry guns.

Kaifu did not say exactly how large he expects the contingent to be, nor did he spell out any specific assignments they might perform. He emphasized, however, that Japan’s first foreign military deployment since World War II would be in keeping with its postwar peace constitution, which renounces the sovereign right to wage war.

“Japan will never again become a military power,” Kaifu told a televised news conference. Kaifu was to leave today for New York to attend the U.N. World Summit for Children and meet with President Bush. Afterward he will make a five-nation tour of the Middle East to explain a package of $2 billion in economic aid for affected allied nations in the region and $2 billion in support for the multinational force.