Japan offered naval role in Iraq: report

This October 2000 shows Japan's 7,250-ton Aegis destroyer, 'Chokai', at the Sagami Bay southwest of Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan -- The United States has sought naval assistance from Japan for a possible military offensive against Iraq, according to a Japanese press report.

Japan was quizzed about the possibility of sending an Aegis-equipped destroyer to support U.S. forces in the Arabian Gulf, the Asahi newspaper reported Friday.

But Japan appeared unlikely to overcome its reluctance to interfere in Middle Eastern affairs, with the government reportedly describing the option as "politically difficult."

In Japanese diplomacy, such an expression means it would be virtually impossible.

The informal request was made during a working-level meeting of U.S. and Japanese officials, said the Asahi newspaper, which quoted several government sources it did not identify. The nationally circulated daily didn't say when the meeting was held.

Resource-poor Japan has historically trodden carefully in the Middle East so as not to jeopardize its supply of oil from the region which provides 88 percent of its oil imports.

Both Japan and the United States flatly denied the report, according to Associated Press news agency.

"The Asahi story is not correct," said Patrick Linehan, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.

"There has been no such request as reported," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's top government spokesman, said Friday at a press conference.

Japanese caution

Earlier this year, U.S. President George W. Bush labeled Iraq as part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and North Korea, a group of nations he said were allegedly seeking to build or acquire weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. allies are increasingly worried that the United States might be rushing toward military confrontation with the country in an effort to dislodge its long ruling leader Saddam Hussein.

Soon after the September 11 terror attacks, the United States asked Japan to send an Aegis-equipped destroyer -- a top-of-the-line warship with highly advanced surveillance capabilities -- to the Indian Ocean to help Washington's campaign against terrorists in Afghanistan.

Growing caution within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party coupled with the rapid collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in November prevented Japan from sending the vessel.

Two other Japanese destroyers and one supply ship are currently in the Indian Ocean to assist the ongoing U.S. military campaign.