Japan Ready to Send Troops to Cambodia : Peacekeeping: The 1,200 soldiers and police will be Tokyo’s first postwar ground force overseas.

Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa’s Cabinet completed plans Tuesday to send 1,128 Japanese troops and 75 civilian police to take part in the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Cambodia.

“Now Japan can make a great contribution to world peace not only in money but in manpower,” Miyazawa said after making the decision to implement the first post-World War II overseas deployment of Japanese ground troops.

The move, a dramatic step away from a longstanding policy of avoiding involvement in international conflicts, came in the aftermath of criticism from the United States and other nations for “checkbook diplomacy” during the 1990-’91 Persian Gulf War. Although Japan raised taxes by 10,000 yen ($81.30) for each of its citizens to donate $13 billion to the war effort, it sent no personnel to the Mideast until after the fighting.

Only after 21 months of debate did Parliament enact a law June 15 to permit regular participation in noncombat U.N. peacekeeping missions.

Eight Ground Self-Defense Force officers will leave about Sept. 20 to take up duties as cease-fire monitors, while the first of 600 engineer corps troops, who will repair and build roads and bridges, will depart around Sept. 24. About 520 Air and Maritime Self-Defense Force troops will transport the peacekeeping team and its supplies. The 75 civilian police will be dispatched in mid-October.

Special allowances of up to $163 a day will be paid to troops assuming the most dangerous duties. Engineer corps troops will earn $130 a day. Compensation of up to $488,000 was authorized for the family of any member of the peacekeeping team killed while serving overseas.

The Cabinet specified that the troops’ overseas service will end Oct. 31, 1993, after U.N.-supervised elections to choose a new government in Cambodia are held.