Japanese troops will conduct training for security maintenance – a duty made possible by legislation which came into effect in 2016 – during multinational peacekeeping exercises in Mongolia starting 14 June, the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) announced on 31 May.

The controversial security bills, which allow Japan limited exercise of the right to collective self-defense, passed in September 2015 and permit Japanese forces on foreign deployments to conduct so-called ‘rush and rescue’ missions to save people in trouble. Like these missions, the security maintenance assignments would permit Japan’s troops to use their weapons for warning shots or to clear ‘obstacles.’ The training in Mongolia will be the GSDF’s first for these duties anywhere.

Troops on security maintenance duty as part of peacekeeping or other deployments will be responsible for or surveillance, patrols, inspections and escort missions in order to protect local civilians and keep order in a specific area. All are new to Japan’s Self-Defense Forces (SDF).

About 40 GSDF members from the Ground Component Command responsible for directing overseas deployments and other duties will take part in the Mongolian peacekeeping exercises. The troops will practice protecting a United Nations facility and how to react to an advancing crowd, among other duties. The SDF is not currently participating in any peacekeeping missions, but one senior GSDF officer told the Mainichi Shimbun, ‘We are joining the (Mongolian) exercises from the perspective of accumulating knowhow for the future.’