Japan's decision to send Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq, coupled with the decision to introduce a missile defense system, marks a major turning point for the nation's defense and security policy. Never in its 50-year history has the SDF been mobilized for noncombat duties in a foreign country in a de facto state of war.
It is an agonizing decision made by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi after weighing the two oft-conflicting premises of Japanese foreign policy: the Japan-U.S. alliance and U.N.-centered international cooperation.
Japan's security policy has undergone dramatic changes since the end of the Cold War. In 1993, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and test-fired a Nodong ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan. In 1996, China conducted military exercises in waters near Taiwan. These events heightened the sense of crisis among the Japanese people.