KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Tuesday that Japan had requested to participate in the international expert panel for the missing plane investigation during his meeting with his Japanese counterpart Itsunori Onodera.

He said they welcomed Japan to join the international expert panel, as it was credible and transparent, and involved the whole world.

"This is where I've seen that we have no problem to get these people come on board, because the world wants to know about MH370," he said, adding that what they found would probably change the aviation history, not only on the civil side, but also on the military side.

He said search and recovery operation had entered the phase of deep sea search, with only a limited number of countries and companies having the equipment to carry it out.

As to the report that Japan had announced to withdraw from the search operation, Hishammuddin said the Japanese defence minister just asked him what assistance Japan could provide.

He said he mentioned about the equipment for deep sea search, which the Japanese side said they would consider his suggestion.