Presentation by Ambassador Odano at

the Subcommittee on Security and Defense, European Parliament

13th July, 2010

 

 

H.E. Ambassador Nobutake Odano addressed the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Defence on 13th July, 2010. The following is the text of his speech:

 

"Chairman of the Subcommittee, the Honourable Mr. Danjean, Distinguished Members of the Subcommittee,

First, I would like to express my appreciation to Mr. Danjean for inviting me to speak about Japan’s basic position and efforts to the fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia. I am truly delighted to have an opportunity to discuss with all of you on this topic, which is without doubt a serious concern not only for Japan and the EU, but also for the whole international community.

Rapid development in East Asia in the recent past and today is made possible with peace and stability in the region and safety in the world trade. The most important sea lane between two of the biggest economic zones in the world, namely East Asia and Europe, cuts through the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, the Indian Ocean, the area off the coast of Somalia, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and finally the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the Strait of Malacca, the Gulf of Aden has been a choke point for this sea lane that is of such critical importance for the trade and commercial relations of both sides. It is worth taking note that there is much annual traffic, nearly 20,000 ships, passing through this region, carrying exporting goods from Europe to Asia and vice versa. Thus, it can be easily understood that the activities of pirates in the region pose a threat not only to Japan, but also to European countries.

Japan is therefore gravely concerned about the recent situation off the coast of Somalia and has been taking various measures to alleviate the situation.

In order to counter the pirates’ activities, in March last year, the Japanese government issued instructions to conduct maritime police operations and dispatched two destroyers with the capacity to carry helicopters to waters off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden. As of 2nd July 2010, Japanese Self Defense Forces vessels have escorted 1,007 ships in 150 escort missions. It deserves to be mentioned that it takes about two to three weeks for our destroyers to arrive on the spot, which is about 12,000 km away from Japan. They are on rotation mission but Japanese destroyers always remain in the area. In addition to that, two P-3C maritime patrol aircraft have started operations from March last year and have so far completed 252 flights as of 27th June 2010.

In order to take more effective and appropriate measures against acts of piracy, in July last year, the Law on the Penalization of Acts of Piracy and Measures against Acts of Piracy was enacted in Japan. Under this new law, Japan is able to protect not only Japanese-related vessels from acts of piracy but also foreign vessels. We would like to emphasize that since entry into force of the new law, out of 874 ships that have been escorted by the Japan Self-Defense Force, 631 were foreign ships, meaning that almost 70% of escorts were for non-Japanese vessels. We would also like to mention that 210 ships which are nearly equal to one fourth of the total number of escorts were dedicated to the vessels of EU member states. There have been numerous expressions of gratitude from the captains of the escorted vessels.

Now, I would like to mention that there has been a fruitful interaction between the Japan Self-Defense Force and EUNAVFOR. There were several cases in which European cargo ships escaped from potential pirate attacks thanks to the information provided by Japan’s P-3C patrol aircraft.

In April this year, President Van Rompuy, President Barroso and High Representative Ashton visited Tokyo for the 19th Japan-EU Summit Meeting. In the meeting, words of appreciation were conveyed from the EU side to our Prime Minister Hatoyama on the valuable contribution Japanese P-3C patrol aircraft are making in the fight against pirates in the sea around Somalia. 

For the ultimate solution to the piracy off the coast of Somalia, our destroyers alone cannot solve the root causes of piracy in this region. We need to look into the fundamental structure of this problem and thus take a multi-faceted approach in the mid-term and long-term. This would involve the development of the maritime law-enforcement capabilities of Somalia and other neighboring coastal states and stabilization of Somalia’s volatile situation as this is what has led to an increase in incidents of piracy.

For the strengthening of the maritime law-enforcement capabilities in this region, Japan can provide the useful expertise we have gained from our experience to establish the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). Responding to the increasing cases of piracy especially in the Strait of Malacca, Japan proposed to establish a legal framework to tackle this problem in 2001 in order to facilitate an exchange of information on pirates and to enhance contracting parties’ ability to respond to incidents of piracy. Since the entry into force of the Agreement in 2006, this framework brought about a dramatic decrease in incidents of piracy; 242 incidents in 2000 to 45 incidents in 2009.We believe that a similar regional mechanism could be further developed in the region surrounding Somalia.

As for concrete projects in Somalia and its neighboring region, Japan has contributed US$13.6 million to the IMO Djibouti Code Trust Fund, a multi-donor trust fund initiated by Japan, for the building of a Djibouti-based training centre for coastguard personnel and information-sharing centres in Yemen, Kenya and Tanzania.  This is one of the cooperation projects that were agreed in the last Japan-EU Summit Meeting. In another initiative, Japan has dispatched a preparatory study team to Yemen for a project to construct a patrol vessel in order to improve Yemen’s maritime security capabilities. We have also invited coast guard officials of coastal countries neighboring Somalia to training courses and experts’ meeting in Japan.

For the long-term goal of stabilizing the situation in Somalia, Japan has been providing financial assistance worth about US$120 million from 2007 to the present for the improvement of the humanitarian and security situation in Somalia.

Now, let me wrap up this presentation by emphasizing that in order to protect the lives and assets of our people, we really need concerted international efforts to confront this problem.  In this regard, Japan and the EU, which are like-minded partners and share common values, can surely cooperate further and tackle this issue hand in hand.

I hope that my presentation helps the honourable Members of the Parliament to understand Japan’s efforts to tackle piracy in the region. I am always happy to discuss this matter with you. Thank you for your attention."