Japan's ruling coalition Thursday approved plans to send naval ships to pirate-infested waters off Somalia to protect Japanese vessels and nationals, an official said. The decision by the coalition's anti-piracy task force is expected to pave the way for a Japanese mission off the coast of the lawless African nation some time in the coming months.
The navy would protect Japanese-registered ships and foreign ships with Japanese crew and passengers, or important cargo, said an official with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's junior coalition partner, New Komeito. The task force said that Japanese coasguards should be on board the navy ships to exercise police duties as the Japanese navy's role was limited strictly to self-defence, he said.
It is up to government to decide what kind of, and how many, ships should be dispatched, said the official in the New Komeito policy planning team. Earlier reports have said Prime Minister Taro Aso will authorise a plan for a destroyer to head to Somalia.
A number of nations are sending ships to the area to fend off increasingly brazen pirate attacks, which have led some shipping companies to avoid the route via the Suez Canal and, at greater cost, sail around Africa instead. Japan, officially pacifist since World War II, can legally use its navy only to protect Japanese vessels and citizens.