December 12, 2008 11:57 p.m. EST
Tokyo, Japan (AHN) – Japanese tankers will continue to refuel and provide water to U.S. Navy ships patrolling the Indian Ocean for another year after the country’s parliament enacted Friday a controversial anti-terrorism law.
The Diet’s lower house, controlled by conservative Prime Minister Taro Aso’s Liberal Democratic Party, overrode an earlier junking of the refueling bill by the opposition-dominated upper house paving way for Japan’s continued participation in the U.S.-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan.
“Anti-terror patrols have suppressed and deterred terrorist activities in the Indian Ocean,” Mr. Aso said in a statement, according to the New York Times. “It is extremely significant for Japan to continue its refueling mission as a member of international society.”
The prime minister added that the refueling mission will protect the sea lane through which ships transporting imported oil to Japan passes.
In his welcome remark to the development, Thomas Schieffer, the outgoing US ambassador to Japan, was quoted by AFP as saying, “As a leading member of the international community, Japan has an important role to play in … efforts to support a stable, democratic Afghanistan and in the fight against terrorism.”
Passage of the extended refueling mission law had been stalled last year when opposition lawmaker sat on the bill forcing Japanese tankers to halt fuel and water supply to U.S. warships in the Indian Ocean.