Japanese destroyer departs for West Asia on intel-gathering mission

Japan has dispatched a destroyer to West Asia on an intelligence-gathering mission, saying it is aimed at ensuring oil shipments from the region.

The helicopter destroyer Takanami on Sunday departed Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo for the Gulf of Oman, through which flows some 90 percent of Japan's oil. 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saw off the destroyer at the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s (MSDF) base in a departure ceremony.

Addressing the event, Abe said Takanami’s mission is critical to the Japanese people's livelihood as about 90 percent of the crude oil Japan uses is transported through the northern part of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman.

“Thousands of Japanese ships ply those waters every year including vessels carrying nine tenths of our oil. It is Japan's lifeline," he said.

However, many analysts believe the Japanese government had to make the decision under the US pressure, but chose not to deploy the vessel to the Persian Gulf in a gesture to Iran.

SS