Posted on 05/11/2010 5:38:55 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Japan plans to establish a $40 million strategic naval base in the Horn of Africa state of Djibouti, where U.S. and French forces are deployed to combat al-Qaida jihadists.
The facility, intended to boost the fight against Somali pirates preying on vital shipping lanes, will be Japan's first foreign military base since World War II.
"This will be the only Japanese base outside our country and the first in Africa," said Japanese navy Capt. Keizo Kitagawa, commander of the Japanese flotilla deployed with the international anti-piracy task force in the Gulf of Aden. He will oversee establishment of the base.
"We're deploying here to fight piracy and for our self-defense. Japan is a maritime nation and the increase in piracy in the Gulf of Aden is worrying," Kitagawa said.
Setting up a Japanese base in Africa would have been unthinkable a few years ago under Japan's 1947 Peace Constitution, which forbade military deployments abroad. So the emphasis of the new venture is fighting crime -- the pirates -- rather than on military operations, even though Japanese troops have been deployed overseas since the early 1990s on U.N. peacekeeping missions.
Several Japanese vessels have been attacked by the Somalia pirates over the last couple of years and pressure from the country's shipping industry was apparently put on the government to step up anti-piracy operations.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
The Sea Shepard will probably be the first target.
Godzilla future hangout????
If the green communists have any ships left, the Japanese have been taking them out recently.
This is probably a signal to India and China that the Japanese mean business.
Interesting given the PRC’s African commercial interests and nascent connections of the sorts needed for military adventurism.
Or North Korea Chia pet start some crap lately
BTTT
Just because I have spent a few nights drinking with French Foreign Legion guys in a airport bar in Djibouti.
$40 million?
Must be a glorified sushi bar!
Some people are going to make scary noises about this, but I say “good”. Japan needs to learn how to be a responsible military nation. They’ve gotten everything else about being a modern democracy down pat, but they’re going to have to eventually leave their pacifism behind in a responsible manner. “Grownup” countries have military duties too. Japan just has to tread extra carefully.
welll, i suppose it will be nice some day when peoples’ image and understanding of the world’s second largest economy graduates past that of merely “godzilla” —which is getting pretty worn out if you ask me ;-)
welll, i suppose it will be nice some day when peoples’ image and understanding of the world’s second largest economy graduates past that of merely “godzilla” —which is getting pretty worn out if you ask me ;-)
This is one more bit of evidence of what is going to take place as the U.S. destroys it’s own fleet.
We’re going to be sorry we abdicated the leading role on the high seas.
Oui!
La 13e Demi-Brigade de Légion étrangère
Badasses le sort!
Bump
Maybe we can attack Osama with Gundams.....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.