Japan: No plan so far to join US-led security initiative in Red Sea | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

Japan’s top admiral says the country’s Self-Defense Forces have no plan to join a US-led multinational security initiative against attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s chief of staff, Admiral Sakai Ryo, made the comment on Monday, shortly after the US announced it was forming the initiative with Britain and other countries.

The US move follows repeated attacks on commercial vessels by Yemen’s anti-government Houthi group in the Red Sea.

Sakai said that the MSDF will proceed with its anti-piracy action plan in the Gulf of Aden. He added that it is unlikely that the MSDF will be active in the Red Sea.

As for the risk of Houthi attacks, Sakai said defense officials will exchange information with Japan’s allies and partners about the group’s activities and threat. Stressing the need for a rational decision, he added that the officials will then discuss how the MSDF should respond.

The MSDF began anti-piracy activities in 2009 in the Gulf of Aden, which connects with the Red Sea though a strait. It currently has a destroyer and patrol aircraft in the area.

Its destroyer Akebono and a P3C patrol plane responded when an armed group hijacked a tanker in the Gulf of Aden in late November. They rushed to the area to gather and pass on information to the US military and others.

MSDF sources said the Akebono quickly escaped from the site following information that ballistic missiles had been launched. The missiles are believed to have fallen about 18 kilometers from the vessel.

The US military said there were two missiles, and they were fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.

In an interview with NHK on November 30, a Houthi spokesperson denied the group’s involvement in the missile launch.