• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Japan eyes relaxing arms-export ban just for missile

PLA Daily 2004-01-15

TOKYO, Jan. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday the purpose of a government plan to relax Japan's arms export ban will be limited to developing a missile shield with the United States.

The comments came after Defense Agency Director General ShigeruIshiba showed his willingness to review the ban to allow the country to jointly develop weapons with countries other than the United States.

Tokyo has been conducting joint research for a next-generation missile defense system with Washington and decided last month to first deploy a US-made system from around fiscal 2007, raising the likelihood it will move the research forward to the development stage that would require it to export currently banned components.

"We will consider it in connection with the issue of missile defense," Koizumi told reporters at his office. "I think Ishiba's comments were made in the context of the joint research on ballistic missile defense."

But Ishiba obviously has a broader idea as he was quoted by Kyodo News during his European tour, "Following the end of the Cold War, it has been a basic assumption in Europe to jointly develop weapons. The ban on arms exports is based on notions prevalent during the Cold War era."

The remarks were taken by lawmakers of the ruling coalition in Tokyo as reflecting the strong interest of Japan's arms industry, which is said as an attempt to survive by expanding the market.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Fukushiro Nukaga, policy chief of Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), basically supported Ishiba's idea.

The government could consider in the future the possibility of seeking partners other than the United States to jointly develop weapons, Fukuda said Wednesday at a press conference, but he added the ban would be reviewed not "in an unfettered way" that could lead Japan to becoming a big arms exporter.

Nukaga, chairman of the LDP's Policy Research Council, said at a separate press conference, "It would be good to consider it in the medium to long term in order to maintain Japan's technological capacity."

But the comments drew criticism not only from opposition parties but also from the LDP's ruling partner, the New Komeito party. They are expected to be an issue during the country's ordinary parliament session starting Monday.

New Komeito leader Takenori Kanzaki said, "If we pave the way for joint research with third countries, the arms export control principles which are a national virtue will be chipped away."

The issue of exporting arms or weapons-related technologies is sensitive in Japan because its Constitution renounces war.

Under the arms embargo policy introduced in 1967, Japan decided not to export arms to communist nations, to countries that the United Nations prohibits arms exports to, and to countries which are involved in international conflicts.

In 1976, Japan decided not to export weapons at all or to make technological agreements on weapons development.

But it partly lifted the ban in 1983 to permit technological cooperation with the United States, with which Japan has a security treaty.

Kanzaki reiterated that his party backed lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai would accept exports of missile defense-related components "as an exception" to the ban, but not the extensive review Ishiba suggested.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan holds a similar view to New Komeito, as its policy chief Yukio Edano said, "We have room to understand exceptions to the principles," while opposing the idea of joint weapons development with non-US partners as "arbitrary".

The Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party branded the idea unconstitutional.

When the government decided last month to start arrangements to introduce a missile shield with US missiles in fiscal 2004, Fukuda said Japan will start considering relaxing the ban on arms exports with a view to exporting parts for future joint development with the United States.