Japan’s warship deployment could push a pacifist country into conflict

Since the end of the second world war and the enactment of its pacifist constitution, Japan has deployed its forces overseas mostly on peacekeeping operations under UN auspices – and almost never to places where its troops are in harm’s way. But next month, the country will send a naval destroyer to the Middle East. On what is being described as an intelligence-gathering mission, the warship will patrol the Gulf of Oman, the northern part of the Arabian sea and a portion of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, following a series of attacks on oil tankers in the region – including one that was Japanese-operated. Last month’s decision by prime minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet to send the destroyer is a curious one. Japan imports 90% of its oil from the Middle East and 80% passes through the strait of Hormuz, where ships are now being escorted by a US-led naval coalition. The Japanese warship will not patrol this crucial chokepoint, but it will still be in the vicinity – and if fighting breaks out, which looks more likely in the wake of the assassination of the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani, the mission could easily morph into armed support of the coalition…. Read full this story

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