ABSTRACT
It is with thought to the deficiencies of existing laws and systems and the lack of public consensus which emerged during the Gulf Crisis that Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu decided to introduce new legislation, the United Nations Peace Co-operation Law, that would enable the country to contribute to UN activities for the maintenance of international peace and security. The bill, which conforms with the Constitution, states that the dispatch of the Peace Co-operation Corps to be established by the new law shall not involve the threat or use of force. (The Japanese Constitution of 1946 renounces 'war as a sovereign right of the nation and threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes'.) The activities in which the Corps can be engaged are also limited to non-combative ones, such as monitoring ceasefires and elections, and refugee relief work as well as support roles such as transportation and telecommunication. Yet, the planned participation of units and personnel of the Self-Defense Forces became a subject of a nationwide controversy. In Asia, too, the concern that this might imply or lead to a shift of Japanese policy to one of dispatching armed forces abroad, has begun to be voiced. This suggests there is strong opposition both in Japan, and in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole to the concept of Japan's sending combat forces abroad. On the other hand, debates in and outside the Diet (the Japanese Parliament) seem to underscore another important fact that there is a growing consensus among the Japanese people on the need for Japan to make something more than just financial contributions to UN-related activities for the maintenance of international peace and order.
