Japan on Tuesday approved a plan to send a unit of ground troops to South Sudan as part of a UN nation-building force, where they are expected to help construct infrastructure for the fledgling nation. ...
The troops, mostly engineers and logistical staff, are expected to help repair or build roads, bridges and infrastructure in the landlocked African country, which declared independence from Sudan in July after a long civil war.
The troops will be based in the capital, Juba, and authorized to shoot in self defense. But that is seen as unlikely given the posting in the capital.
Still, having Japan and China backing rival governments, whose own competition will likely get ugly, will be interesting.
UPDATE: Ok, sorry. This has a really dumb title. To indicate a local connection to the basic Japanese-Chinese competition, I was angling off a South China Sea allusion, which doesn't even make a lot of sense in a Japan-China competition sense. Now, if East Sudan was the new country, I'd have been right on track ...
UPDATE: Here's the Chinese-Japanese jockeying for position near Japan.
