VOA标准英语2008年-Japan Approves Anti-Terrorism Naval Mission in

Japan's lower house of parliament has forced through a controversial anti-terrorism law reviving an Indian Ocean naval¹ mission supporting U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. The bill's approval came after the more powerful lower house used a rare second vote to override² a rejection³ in the upper house. Naomi Martig reports from VOA's Asia News Center in Hong Kong.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's ruling coalition⁴ took the very rare step of using a two-thirds majority to override a rejection in the upper house of parliament. Such a step has only been used once before, more than 50 years ago. The approval is seen as a victory for Mr. Fukuda, who supports Japan's presence in Southeast Asia.

Japan has supplied fuel to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan since 2001, under legislation allowing participation⁵ in post-September 11 operations.

Lawmakers had extended the mission repeatedly in the past, but the mission expired last November because of a stalemate in parliament.

The country's opposition⁶ Democratic Party of Japan, which won control of the upper house of parliament last July, refused to back the extension. Opposition lawmakers had argued that the mission lacks a mandate⁷ from the United Nations, and that it goes against the country's pacifist constitution, which forbids it from engaging in warfare⁸ overseas.

Jeff Kingston, a professor of politics at Temple University in Japan, says approval of the new mission is good news for the Japan-U.S. alliance.

"I don't think that the refueling was critical to the operation, but I think symbolically⁹ this is important for the U.S. administration and I think that in that sense it is good," he said.

But, Kingston says there is still some concern in Japan about what the country's security posture¹⁰ should be in the international community.

"And I think this is not a debate that is going to go away. It hasn't been solved today. And I think what they've done is shelved it for another year. But it's still going to be a divisive political issue for some time to come," said Kingston.

Japan has struggled in recent years to reinvent itself as a nation more involved in helping¹¹ to resolve international conflicts.

Tokyo's ships will be allowed to return to the Indian Ocean as soon as next month.

During its six-year mission, Japan provided about 480,000 kiloliters of fuel to coalition warships¹² in the Indian Ocean, including vessels¹³ from the United States, Britain and Pakistan.

Japan's role in the war on terrorism also included a deployment¹⁴ of 600 self-defense forces in southern Iraq, which ended last year.