Japan's cabinet decided Thursday to extend the Self-Defense Forces' (SDF) humanitarian assistance operation in Iraq by one year until December 14, 2005.  

More than 500 SDF's ground troops are stationed in Iraq's southern city of Samawah, backed up by air and maritime forces in Kuwait. The current one-year mission will expire on Tuesday.

The revised plan left unchanged the cap of 600 ground troops and eight aircraft in the mission.

Also in the new plan, the government showed flexibility in pullout timetable, saying it will pay attention to the progress of reconstruction activities and Iraq's political process, security conditions, activities of the multinational forces and other issues and respond with appropriate measures when necessary.

The added clause apparently was meant to address concerns that deteriorating local security situation could inflict SDF casualties.

Defense Agency Director Yoshinori Ono paid a five-hour visit to the SDF's camp on Sunday and reported to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday, saying the situation was stable enough for a prolonged stay.

"I have concluded that it is appropriate to extend the deployment for one year, as the next year will be an important one for Iraq," Koizumi told a press conference after the endorsement, citing Iraq's election scheduled for late January and the expected completion of the multinational forces' mission in December next year.

He said that Samawah's security situation was "unpredictable," yet still "relatively stable," stressing the place had not yet become a combat area.

Japanese media polls have shown that the majority of Japanese opposed the prolonged mission out of safety concern. The worry was aggravated after the Dutch government announced it would withdraw troops in charge of local security next March.

The opposition parties voiced their objection to the extension, demanding an immediate withdrawal.

The SDF camp has come under shell attacks and six Japanese were abducted by militants who demanded a pullout. One was killed. The Japanese territory also could become a target.

"What Koizumi should do now is to accept the actual conditions on the ground in Iraq and completely pull out the troops by March when the Dutch troops are to leave after the Iraqi parliamentary election is held. The prime minister should think afresh what Japan can do to help the Iraqis stand on their own feet," the Asahi Shimbun said in an editorial when the extension was poised to be adopted.

Still, any trade of fire, even if for self-defense, would be highly controversial given Japan's pacifist constitution. The opposition parties are arguing that the unrest in Iraq has made it hard to call Samawah a non-combat place, a legal prerequisite for the SDF's presence.

As one of the staunchest allies of the United States, Japan has thrown strong backing to a series of US military operations. They are in talks on US troops realignment and teamed up in developing ballistic missile defense systems. The United States also plays a vital role in bailing out Japan's decade-long sluggish economy.

The bitter opposition from Germany and France over the invasion and sudden pullout of Spanish troops raged the United States and made relations soured between Washington and its traditional allies.

Tokyo does not want to risk losing a hand from the United States in dealing with what it claims threat from the neighboring Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Moreover, the Republic of Korea -- another firm partner of the United States in Asia -- is still keeping its about 3,600 troops in Iraq and is likely to extend the mission by an additional year until the end of 2005.

The extension was "necessary for Japan's peace and stability to build up trust as an ally at a time when the United States is struggling," the premier told the press conference.

"This decision of mine is to realize Japan's policy of pursuing both the Japan-US alliance and international coordination," he said.

"Providing humanitarian relief and helping the Iraqi people reconstruct their war-torn nation was not the primary purpose of the Japanese government's dispatch of the SDF to Iraq. Its main aim was to toe the line of US Iraq policy," said Takahito Tanaka, a professor of international political history at Hitotsubashi University, in an article to Asahi Shimbun.

He also pointed out that Koizumi administration capitalized on the dispatch to "lift restrictions on the use of military force."

The mission in Iraq is the largest overseas dispatch of the SDF since it first sent troops abroad in the early 1900s after the World War II. It is also the first time the SDF went to a place where conflicts are going on. The move has heavily rocked the constitutional taboo and paved way for further similar missions.

Japan's war-renouncing constitution denies the right of belligerency of the state.

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2004)