WORLD : Japan Deployment Faces Flak
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TOKYO — Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu was met by hoots and catcalls today when he opened a special session of Parliament by urging support for his plan to deploy Japan’s Self Defense Forces overseas for the first time.
The prime minister told the deeply divided Parliament, or Diet, that Japan’s international role is bigger “than most of us are aware of.” Such responsibility, he said, justified dispatching his proposed U.N. Peace Cooperation Corps to the Persian Gulf.
“We must not forget the fact that Japan is one of the prime beneficiaries of a world without war,” Kaifu said. “Contributing to maintain world peace is both a natural and inevitable cost arising from Japan’s position within the international community.”
Kaifu faces powerful opposition over the bill to create the force of 1,000 to 2,000 troops who would perform non-combat services.
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