By Tim Kelly
TOKYO, March 16 (Reuters) - Japan has no plan to dispatch naval vessels to escort vessels in the Middle East, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump called on allies to protect tankers traversing through the Strait of Hormuz.
"We have not made any decisions whatsoever about dispatching escort ships. We are continuing to examine what Japan can do independently and what can be done within the legal framework," Takaichi told parliament.
Trump's call in a social media post for U.S. allies, including Japan, to help protect oil and gas shipments through the strategic waterway puts Tokyo in a difficult position because while it relies heavily on Middle East energy its war-renouncing constitution limits the scope of overseas military operations it can conduct.
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Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force has conducted anti-piracy operations in waters near the Middle East, but those missions were policing operations rather than combat missions against state actors. Japan can deploy its military overseas to respond to what it determines to be an existential threat to the nation, but that would be politically difficult and a high legal threshold for Takaichi's government to justify.
Takaichi will travel to Washington this week for talks with Trump that she said will cover the conflict with Iran.
"I would like to engage in solid discussions based on Japan's views and position regarding the need for early de-escalation," she told lawmakers.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Michael Perry and Raju Gopalakrishnan)