Singapore agreed Tuesday to permit Japan to use their military bases to evacuate Japanese nationals and to help with peacekeeping operations in Southeast Asia, Japanese government officials said.
Defense Agency chief Tsutomu Kawara requested advance approval for use of the bases in a meeting with his counterpart, Tony Tan, on Tuesday in Singapore, the officials said.
It is the first time Japan has asked another country for permission for its Self-Defense Forces to use bases during peacetime.
Behind the request are unstable situations in Indonesia, the Korean Peninsula and in the Taiwan Strait, from where the SDF would have to evacuate Japanese citizens in the event of a crisis, Defense Agency sources said.