Japan Deploys Self Defense Forces to Aid Philippines

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wsj

Japanese forces joined international efforts on Wednesday to airlift citizens out of this hard-hit city, vying for greater influence in Asia near the site of a crushing naval defeat in World War II.

The Japanese Air Self Defense Forces were set to be joined Friday by three warships of Japan's Maritime Defense Force in what will be one of the Japanese military's largest overseas relief operations.

The U.S. military already has a large contingent bringing relief to typhoon survivors, and China on Wednesday said it would send in a military hospital ship, the Peace Ark, among other contributions, following a rash of criticism on social media that Beijing hadn't done enough to aid in the recovery.

China, the U.S. and Japan have been jostling for influence in the strategically important and mineral-rich South China Sea, where Beijing has competing territorial claims with the Philippines and Vietnam. Japan has its own maritime territorial disputes with China and has increasingly supported Beijing's rivals.

"Deploying the [Japanese military forces] to the Philippines…puts China in check, and is also a good opportunity to show off the military capabilities of Japan and the U.S.," said Tetsuo Kotani, a maritime-security specialist at the Japan Institute of International Affairs.

Mr. Kotani said disaster relief missions of this scale involved military operations conducted in warfare. "Command and control, rapid response, search and rescue. It's basically the same as war, you just don't fire guns."

The last major presence of Japanese forces in the Philippines was in World War II. Japan occupied the Philippines, which fought alongside the U.S. and other allied powers in the war. The largest naval battle of World War II took place in Leyte's waters—the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in October of 1944—with Japan fighting against the U.S. and Australia.

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Typhoon survivors prepare to board a Japanese military plane that will move them out of Tacloban. Dita Alangkara/Associated Press

"When I was small, my grandmother told me stories about the Japanese occupation during the World War II—how scared she was about Japanese," said Corazon Binoya, 56, in Tacoloban.

"But it's all over now. I don't feel anything negative about the Japanese military participating in the relief operations."

The Japanese flotilla expected to arrive Friday—made up of a cruiser, a cargo ship, a fuel supply ship and eight helicopters—will deliver emergency supplies to remote areas pounded by the storm that have yet to receive much help.

The stepped-up relief assistance by Japan, including more than 1,000 troops, in part reflects joint efforts with the U.S. to strengthen partnerships with countries resisting China's claims to parts of the South China Sea. Japan's move also reflects its goal of strengthening economic relations with the Philippines, as well as Indonesia, Myanmar and India, analysts said.

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The official death toll from Typhoon Haiyan topped 4,000 on Wednesday—double the estimate that President Benigno Aquino III gave last week.

So far, 4,011 people are confirmed dead and 1,602 are missing, according to government figures. Nearly 709,255 houses were damaged or demolished and nearly 10 million people were affected by the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines in two decades.

Lt. Col. Takashi Inoue, spokesman for the Japanese troops, said the focus of the mission was to help people whose lives had been torn apart by the storm get to someplace else, if only for a while. A Japanese C-130 cargo plane on Wednesday flew its first Filipino evacuees to Manila, while another brought fuel into Tacloban from Cebu.

"There's nothing wrong about people taking refuge until the city gets rebuilt," he said. "For many people, it's simply impossible to continue to live there now."

China's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the Chinese military will deploy a medical-relief ship to aid in humanitarian efforts in the Philippines, and that it will soon deploy relief workers.

In addition to the medical-relief ship, a 51-person medical relief team is being sent from China, as well as 30 relief workers from the Red Cross Society of China.

The U.S. military presence dwarfs that of Japan and China. Nearly 9,000 U.S. troops are taking part in the relief effort, including 1,800 Marines and 7,000 members of the U.S. Navy on the USS George Washington and other ships. The Marines have 11 Osprey aircraft and four KC-130J Super Hercules transport planes at work.

Chinese military officers and analysts have accused the U.S. of trying to contain China within the "first island chain," which includes Japan and the Philippines, both of which have mutual-defense treaties with the U.S.

"The U.S. has been stepping up its involvement in disaster relief operations in East Asia in the past several years, starting with the tsunami in [Indonesian] Sumatra. There have been a number of joint exercises for disaster relief in the region. This is part of America's broader strategy to deepen its ties with Asian nations," said Kyoji Yanagisawa, chief director of International Geopolitics Institute Japan and a former defense ministry official.

In less than a year of taking office last December, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has already visited all 10 member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He is also hosting a summit meeting with those leaders in Tokyo next month to commemorate the 40th anniversary of friendship. As part of its efforts to increase security cooperation, Japan has provided maritime patrol vessels to the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

"The Philippines occupy an important role in Japan's foreign and security policies, and the disaster relief mission provides good chance for Tokyo to strengthen ties with Manila," said Mr. Kotani.