Japan should use its Self-Defense Forces to contribute to world peace and stability, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Wednesday.
"I think there are ways to make use of the Self-Defense Forces other than in the exercise of the right to self-defense," Ishiba, 46, told The Japan Times in an interview. Ishiba is currently preparing for a planned dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.
International cooperation activities are described under the 1954 Self-Defense Forces law as a secondary role of the SDF. Such activities may be conducted "as long as they do not hinder the task of national defense."