Defense Agency Director General Gen Nakatani said Tuesday that he plans to visit East Timor from Sept. 11 to 14 to see what sort of contributions Japan can make to international efforts toward the region's independence.
"I would like to meet leaders of the region, U.N. staff members and local people to see with my own eyes how Japan can help build a new country," he told a regular news conference.
Nakatani has expressed his willingness to send Self-Defense Forces personnel to the former Portuguese colony after the Constituent Assembly election slated for Friday. East Timor has been under U.N. control since 1999, after a majority of the population voted for independence from Indonesia. Japan has been unable to take part in U.N. peacekeeping missions in East Timor as there are strict legal conditions for SDF participation in such operations overseas.