Japan To Ease Rules On Foreign Intervention

Ready or Not, Japan To Ease Rules On Foreign Intervention -- Time

TOKYO – Japanese leaders are preparing to ease a decades-long prohibition against the use of combat troops overseas. That’s one result of last week’s terrorist raid in Algeria, in which at least nine Japanese citizens were killed.

But it will take much more than a change in legal statutes before Japanese self-defense forces – capable though they may be – are ready to intervene in a terrorist or military incident far from home.

“The fundamental ability of Japanese troops is good. But their skills are not necessarily the best for these kinds of missions,” says Garren Mulloy, an associate professor of international relations at Tokyo’s Daito Bunka University, who has studied the Japan Self Defense Forces (JSDF).

Read more ....

My Comment: Since the end of the Second World War Japan has always been protected by U.S. defense commitments and treaties. And while this may have suited during the Cold War, it definitely does not provide the proper rules and engagements for today`s conflicts. I expect Japan to change these rules .... but I also expect no Japanese ground troops to be invited by any Asian country in view of their history (World War 2) and the prevalent anti-Japanese sentiment that exists across Asia.