Japan to Give Peacekeeper Training to ASEAN Nations

July 16, 2018

Tokyo- Japan will provide training for personnel in member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations taking part in U.N. peacekeeping operations, it was learned Monday.

The government has been holding training in Africa on how to operate heavy machinery and plans to expand the program to cover ASEAN nations, informed sources said.

Having set aside about 4.5 billion yen in related spending under the fiscal 2017 supplementary budget, Japan plans to dispatch Self-Defense Forces personnel later this year at the earliest, the source said.

After the last Ground SDF engineering unit withdrew from South Sudan in May 2017, no SDF unit is currently on a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

The government is looking for a new mission, but all of 14 ongoing U.N. peacekeeping operations are conducted in areas where the security conditions are unstable, making it difficult for Japan to dispatch personnel under the principles governing its participation in peacekeeping activities.

For the time being, Japan therefore will prioritize support to boost the capacity of foreign forces, according to the sources.

U.N. peacekeeping operations have recently been facing a serious shortage of heavy machinery used mainly for road repairs as well as personnel who operate the equipment.

Japan has sent SDF personnel to a training facility in Kenya since 2015. In the country and Uganda, SDF officers have taught local personnel how to operate bulldozers and carry out road paving work.

To start similar projects in ASEAN, the SDF will dispatch personnel to nations taking part in or planning to join U.N. peacekeeping operations and help improve the technological capability of local staff workers.

Japan has listed Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam as candidate venues for the training programs and will coordinate with the United Nations, the sources said.

By strengthening relations with a number of nations through such training, Japan aims to counter China's growing presence in U.N. peacekeeping activities, according to the sources.

China has increased participation in peacekeeping missions since the 2000s, involving a total of 2,514 Chinese personnel as of the end of May.

The Japanese government hopes to become more relevant in the international community through "effective assistance" to be provided at the request of the United Nations, a Defense Ministry official said. Jiji Press