Editorial: Could Japan Go Minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz?

Yaeyama class minesweeper: JDS Tsushima
(Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

By Mina Pollmann

PM Abe’s LDP and the Komeito Party debate whether minesweeping operations qualify as collective self-defense.

During a plenary session of the House of Representatives on Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe affirmed that engaging in minesweeping operations in the Strait of Hormuz – if the straits were to be blockaded using undersea mines – would be a positive case of Japan using its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) abroad under the principle of collective self-defense. Such a hypothetical blockade “could be considered a situation that clearly causes as serious and significant damage as a direct armed attack on Japan. … [The impact of a blockade] would be far greater than those of the past oil crises and the world economy would be thrown into total disarray,” Abe warned.

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani supported Abe’s answers, explaining, “If mines are laid in the strait, it will halt oil supply, which will have a significant impact on the daily lives of Japanese citizens. As a result, the country’s existence will be threatened.” Abe and Nakatani are arguing that such a blockade would meet the criteria established last July for the right to exercise collective self-defense. The Cabinet decision to reinterpret Article 9 of Japan’s constitution stated that Japan can deploy the SDF overseas for collective self-defense purposes “when an armed attack against a foreign country that is in a close relationship with Japan occurs and as a result threatens Japan’s survival and poses a clear danger to fundamentally overturn people’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” In a hypothetical Strait of Hormuz crisis, Japan’s right to collective self-defense could also be invoked if there was a “clear danger” that force would be used against a U.S. warship carrying Japanese troops. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat