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DE RUEHKO #0566/01 0720752
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P 130752Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1484
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/USDOJ WASHDC PRIORITY
RULSDMK/USDOT WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J5//
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
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RHMFIUU/USFJ //J5/JO21//
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RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 3497
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8247
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 4272
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 4175

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TOKYO 000566 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA; 
WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION; 
TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; 
SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, 
DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA 
FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR; 
CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA
 
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 03/13/09 
 
Index: 
 
(1) Anti-piracy legislation to be adopted at cabinet meeting today: 
Guidelines for use of weapons to be eased; Concern about impact on 
future dispatch of SDF troops (Nikkei) 
 
(2) Somalia dispatch (Part 1): Uncertain Obama strategy (Tokyo 
Shimbun) 
 
(3) No abnormality found in water around Futenma Air Station after 
jet fuel spills (Ryukyu Shimpo) 
 
(4) Reasons for public prosecutors to investigate illegal political 
donations by Nishimatsu Construction at this timing (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Anti-piracy legislation to be adopted at cabinet meeting today: 
Guidelines for use of weapons to be eased; Concern about impact on 
future dispatch of SDF troops 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
March 13, 2009 
 
The government will adopt at a cabinet meeting on March 13 
anti-piracy legislation designed to counter piracy in waters off 
Somalia. The legislation for the first time allows, though 
conditionally, the Self-Defense Forces to fire on pirate ships 
before they launch an attack. The policy is based on the notion that 
anti-piracy operations are police activities differing from the use 
of weapons overseas that is prohibited under Article 9 of the 
Constitution. However, there is concern that such a notion could 
have an impact on the guidelines for the future use of weapons by 
SDF personnel abroad. 
 
Article 9 and use of weapons 
 
The guidelines for the use of weapons by SDF personnel dispatched 
abroad have been gradually eased. However, they are limitedly 
allowed to use weapons only for self-defense or emergency evacuation 
when attacked. Article 9 of the Constitution bans the use of weapons 
overseas as a means of settling international disputes. 
 
Anti-piracy operations are police activities 
 
The legislation approves SDF personnel firing on pirate vessels, 
even if they do not make an attack, provided that they do not stop 
closing in on commercial ships despite warning shots. The provision 
adopted this time, which is clearly different from self-defense, is 
characterized as the use of weapons to carry out missions. Though 
such an action is approved by other countries' militaries, the SDF 
is not allowed to do so under Japan's exclusively defense-oriented 
policy. 
 
Positioning anti-piracy operations in question as police activities, 
the government defines pirate ships as vessels excluding military 
ships and ships owned or operated by foreign governments. The 
government has explained that fighting a state or a state-like 
entity could fall under the use of armed force. However, the 
government clearly differentiates the use of weapons from the use of 
armed force by adopting such a definition. 
 
TOKYO 00000566  002 OF 005 
 
 
 
Possible to deal with approaching helicopters 
 
The government during deliberations on the legislation by the ruling 
parties indicated this interpretation of the law: "The SDF may fire 
on a helicopter that took off from a pirate ship and refused to stop 
approaching. However, the SDF is not allowed do fire on a helicopter 
that came flying from the shore. This is a view that though a 
helicopter is not a pirate vessel, if it took off from a pirate 
ship, its approaching flight can be interpreted as an extended act 
of piracy. 
 
It is only natural to anticipate every possible situation for SDF 
activities overseas. However, some government and ruling party 
officials are concerned that the Liberal Democratic Party's defense 
policy clique and the Defense Ministry might be trying to set a 
precedent for easing the guidelines for the use of weapons in order 
to broaden the scope of SDF activities overseas." 
 
(2) Somalia dispatch (Part 1): Uncertain Obama strategy 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Abridged slightly) 
March 12, 2009 
 
The Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) is going to dispatch two 
destroyers on an anti-piracy mission in waters off Somalia. The MSDF 
was reluctant to do so until last December. Around that time, the 
Defense Ministry announced an organizational reform plan, following 
a series of irregularities, including the Aegis-equipped destroyer 
Atago's collision with a fishing boat. Some MSDF members complained 
about the mission, insisting that that is what the Japan Coast Guard 
should do. 
 
The situation changed when the United States on Dec. 16 drafted UN 
Resolution 1851 authorizing operations to crack down on pirates in 
Somalia. The United States had been keeping a distance from Somalia 
since 18 American soldiers were killed there in 1993. Senior MSDF 
officers recognized a change in the United States. 
 
"If the United States plans operations in Somalia, we should of 
course cooperate." The MSDF, which contained the Soviet Navy in 
collaboration with the U.S. Navy during the Cold War era, takes 
strong pride in propping up the Japan-U.S. alliance. 
 
Hoisting a Rising Sun flag in waters off Somalia carries great 
significance for Japan, which has supported the United States in the 
Afghan War and Iraq War, using the SDF. 
 
With the MSDF destroyers being sent out soon, a different view 
emerged in the MSDF. Some specifically speculated that the United 
States might decide to use "smart power," a concept advocated by 
President Barack Obama, in addressing the Somalia issue. Smart power 
is a notion combining military, economic and cultural power to aim 
at international cooperation by breaking away from the Bush 
administration's unilateralism. 
 
As if he was convinced that Obama would become the new president, 
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the National Defense 
Strategy last July. The strategy underlined the need for the 
military and civilian sectors to jointly address tough issues based 
on lessons learned in Iraq where America's strategy solely dependent 
on military power failed. 
 
TOKYO 00000566  003 OF 005 
 
 
 
As a result, the U.S. Africa Command, the sixth of its kind, was 
launched in November. A female official from the State Department 
serves as its deputy commander for civil-military activities, and 
civilians account for one-fourth of the command. The idea is if 
civil order in Africa is improved with a variety of aids, that would 
contribute to the security of the United States. 
 
Meanwhile in Japan, the ruling parties' anti-piracy project team 
visited in February Africa's Djibouti, where the MSDF will be based. 
Meeting with the project team, the U.S. commanding officer in 
Djibouti sought the dispatch of P-3Cs immediately after offering 
words of welcome, saying, "We will gladly provide you with our 
base." 
 
Germany, France, and Spain have each dispatched one patrol plane to 
Djibouti and the U.S. Navy three. Shifting naval patrol aircraft for 
surveillance over Afghanistan, the U.S. military said that it was in 
short of "eyes" to spot pirate ships. 
 
Tokyo has begun negotiations with the Djibouti government for 
stationing an MSDF P-3C unit in the country. The government is 
planning to dispatch two to three P-3Cs. If the plan is realized, 
Japan would deploy three destroyers, including one on a refueling 
mission, a fueler, and a patrol unit in waters off Africa and the 
Middle East. 
 
As is clear from its plan to send reinforcements to Afghanistan, the 
Obama administration has not ruled out the use of military power. At 
a time when the Somalia issue can hardly make a soft landing and the 
United States is trying to rely on its military power, the MSDF will 
be literally standing nearby. 
 
(3) No abnormality found in water around Futenma Air Station after 
jet fuel spills 
 
RYUKYU SHIMPO (Page 30) (Full) 
March 13, 2009 
 
Jet fuel has recently leaked from a fuel storage tank in a northern 
area of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station. The Environment 
Preservation Division of the Okinawa prefectural government on March 
12 released the results of water analysis conducted by the Okinawa 
Prefecture Institute of Public Health and Environment Science. 
According to the report, no benzene or toluene, which could be 
contained in the fuel, was detected in nearby drainages or spring 
water. 
 
(4) Reasons for public prosecutors to investigate illegal political 
donations by Nishimatsu Construction at this timing 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 24) (Excerpts) 
March 10, 2009 
 
Public prosecutors have launched an investigation into Nishimatsu 
Construction Co.'s donations made to Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) 
President Ozawa's political organization. Many observers say that it 
is unusual for the prosecutors to launch such an investigation with 
the next general election close at hand. Responses this newspapers 
received from readers are also unusual. Many readers are critical of 
the prosecutors, instead of questioning Ozawa's responsibility. The 
Tokyo Shimbun has delved into their question "Why now?" 
 
TOKYO 00000566  004 OF 005 
 
 
 
There has been a rumor going around among people right after the 
arrest of Ozawa's secretary that public prosecutors think that they 
are some kind of young officers or that top-ranking officials have 
become unable to control them. 
 
However, Professor Nobuo Gohara at the Toin Yokohama University 
graduate school said, "I do not feel that they chose the timing for 
political purposes." He served as an assistant public prosecutor at 
the Nagasaki District Public Prosecutors Office from 2002 through 
¶2003. He led investigation into an illegal donation scandal 
involving the Liberal Democratic Party's Nagasaki chapter. 
 
He noted, "Is this such a major scandal even for the arrest of a 
state-funded secretary to a person who is regarded as a candidate to 
become the next prime minister? They called for some backups from 
other public prosecutors' offices late last year. To begin with, it 
is hard to think that they also had the Liberal Democratic Party in 
mind." 
 
Given the charge that led to the arrest of the secretary, it is a 
crime concerning outside money entered into the political 
organization's fund report. The amount involved is just 21 million 
yen, less than 50 PERCENT  of the average amount involved in this 
kind of scandals in the past. 
 
"Normally, arresting someone on such a charge requires a sizable 
amount of money that cannot be pardoned with the correction of the 
fund report, and they must also discover something unscrupulous in 
that person's way of raising donations. However, there are no such 
elements in the incident this time," said Gohara. 
 
Journalist Osamu Aoki said: "It is a problem that the arrest was 
made on the day before the revote on the budget bill. However, you 
never know when a general election will be held. Some charges are 
about to run out of the statute of limitations. Public prosecutors' 
logic is barely justifiable." 
 
A number of key LDP officers not indicted 
 
Aoki, however, sarcastically said, "Public prosecutors have thus far 
intentionally avoided investigations into key government officials." 
Among recent cases, though late former Prime Minister Ryutaro 
Hashimoto was not indicted over an illegal 100 million yen donation 
made by the Japan Dentists Federation, former Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Kanezo Muraoka was indicted. He said, "Their 
investigations markedly lacked balance. It is hard to say that top 
prosecutors had no political intention." 
 
Nippon University Professor Yasunobu Iwai, political scientist, 
said, "There was presumably a sense of distrust in Mr. Ozawa, such 
as whether it is all right to have Mr. Ozawa as prime minister." 
 
Even so, he is skeptical about a view that the arrest was made with 
the upcoming general election in mind. He speculated, "Public 
prosecutors wanted to avoid being criticized as interfering in the 
election." 
 
The Public Offices Election Law prohibits those who plan to run in 
the election from putting up campaign posters for six months before 
the Lower House members' term ends and up until the election is 
officially announced. The Lower House's current membership is to end 
 
TOKYO 00000566  005 OF 005 
 
 
on Sept. 10. That is to say, a period after March 10 is regarded as 
right before the election. 
 
Iwai conjectures that public prosecutors might have thought that 
they could avoid coming under fire for interfering in the election, 
if the arrest (of the secretary) is before that. 
 
The scandal was triggered by the incident of Nishimatsu Construction 
Co. violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law, brought to 
light last year. A watcher of the prosecutors said the arrest took 
place at this timing, because the prosecutors had too much pride to 
close the scandal just as a case of violation of the Foreign 
Exchange and Foreign Trade Law, and this coincided with a timetable 
for personnel changes for bureaucrats in April and the suicide of a 
secretary to a former Lower House member, whom they were 
questioning. 
 
ZUMWALT