SDF Dispatch to S. China Sea Depends on Situation: Abe

Tokyo, July 15 (Jiji Press)--Whether Japan would send Self-Defense Forces personnel by exercising its collective self-defense right when a military conflict occurs in the South China Sea will depend on the situation, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday. "The use of force in individual cases will be decided through a comprehensive examination of the situation based on three new conditions on exercising the collective self-defense right," Abe said at a meeting of the House of Councillors Budget Committee. But Abe noted that the existing territorial disputes between China and Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, in the South China Sea are not deemed right now as cases in which Japan can dispatch the SDF under the new rules. The new conditions, adopted by the cabinet earlier this month, say that Japan can exercise the right when an armed attack against an ally "threatens Japan's survival and poses a clear danger to fundamentally overturn people's right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" and when there are "no other appropriate means" to ensure Japan's survival and protect its people and that the use of force should be limited to "the minimum extent necessary." The minimum-necessary use of force under the rules can be determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the scale and type of military attack against a friendly country, Abe said. Whether the people's right is in clear danger of being fundamentally undermined will be determined by the government in an objective and rational manner, not based on a subjective judgment, through a comprehensive assessment of all information available, he also stressed. Abe admitted that SDF troops could face increased danger after his cabinet lifted the country's self-imposed ban on the exercise of the collective self-defense right. "I'm not saying they are as safe as they have been," he said. END