Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda yesterday told a resurgent opposition that Japan must not be a "bystander" in the US-led "war on terror" as he fought to extend a naval mission in the Indian Ocean.
The opposition won control of one house of parliament in July elections and has vowed to defeat government proposals to extend the naval mission providing fuel and logistical support to US-led forces in Afghanistan.
It has so far ignored a government compromise that would stop refueling operations backing combat troops, restricting support to ships policing the Indian Ocean.
Addressing a parliamentary committee attended by key lawmakers from the ruling coalition and opposition, Fukuda said that Japan, as the world's second-largest economy, needed to contribute to international security.
Saying that the international community was united after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, Fukuda said: "How can we sit back as a bystander?"
He also assured the opposition that the Indian Ocean mission does not violate Japan's pacifist Constitution, which was imposed by the US after World War II.
"First of all, the mission is not an act of force," Fukuda said. "It does not infringe on the Constitution at all."
Meanwhile, the US and Japan were locked in a dispute over Washington's demand that Tokyo shoulder more costs for water supplies and utilities at US military bases in Japan, media reports said on Monday.
Washington has urged Japan to cover rising costs of boosting US military capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region to deal with North Korea and China, Kyodo news agency quoted sources close to the matter as saying.
"It could cause a crack in the Japan-US relationship," Kyodo quoted a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official as saying.
Japan, plagued by bulging public debts, wants to reduce the so-called "sympathy budget" it sets aside each year under bilateral agreements to help support nearly 50,000 US military personnel in Japan.
For the fiscal year ending in March, Japan allocated ?217.3 billion (US$1.86 billion) for the sympathy budget, ?115 billion to cover salaries for Japanese employees at the bases and ?25.3 billion for electricity, water and gas.
Meanwhile, in an apparent move to enhance its defenses against China, the Japanese Defense Ministry announced yesterday it would deploy F-15 fighter aircraft on Okinawa for the first time by early 2009.
The ministry also plans to deploy AH-64D Apache helicopters on the southern main island of Kyushu as part of the planned fleet relocation to step up defenses against China, the Nikkei said yesterday.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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