The US ambassador urged Japan yesterday to extend its naval mission in the Indian Ocean, saying it would be "a real tragedy" if Tokyo dropped out of the battle against terrorism.
Japan has refueled US-led warships in the Indian Ocean since 2001, but withdrew the mission last month when the opposition -- which controls the upper house of parliament -- blocked its extension.
Ambassador Thomas Schieffer said Japan would have to decide whether it wants to be part of the international effort to combat terrorism or not.
"It would be a real tragedy if somehow Japan tried to opt out of the war on terror," he told reporters at his Tokyo residence. "It's just an issue that requires a unified international community to make any headway against."
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last week extended the current session of the Diet in an effort to push through the legislation, which would renew the mission but limit Japan to refueling ships on anti-terrorism patrols.
Under that version of the bill, Japan could not support ships directly related to the US-led forces fighting in Afghanistan.
Schieffer said the legislative battle would be a test of whether the government would be able to function with the opposition in control of one house of parliament. The LDP controls the more powerful lower house.
The measure "will be a good indication if whether the government is able to act when it wants to, or if political gridlock is the result," Schieffer said.
He has been a vocal advocate of the bill, meeting with opposition lawmakers and others to argue for its passage.
The Afghan mission was part of Japan's response in support of the US following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Japan dispatched a humanitarian ground unit to southern Iraq in 2004 for two years and still has a logistical unit in Kuwait.
The US bases 50,000 troops in Japan under a security treaty, and Schieffer said he had hoped the strength of the US-Japan alliance would be beyond politics.
"It's a little disappointing to see that somehow the alliance has become the focus of a political fight between the two parties," he said.
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