4 March 2004
Tokyo urged to review its ban on arms exports
Rueters

If things unfold as planned, Tokyo could end up exporting jointly developed missile defence components made in Japan to the US, said Mr Fukushiro Nukaga, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council.

'Doing such things could revitalise our economy and expand the breadth and technology of our defence industry. I think it would be okay to think about a review,' Mr Nukaga, a former defence minister, told reporters.

Japan and the US began researching a next-generation missile defence system after North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile that flew over Japan in 1998.

But Japan stopped short of moving to the development phase because of worries about cost and constitutional issues.

Japan's pacifist Constitution renounces the right to go to war and prohibits the nation from having a military, but has been interpreted as allowing Japan to have forces for self-defence.

The idea of re-examining the self-imposed ban on arms exports has emerged at a time of intensifying debate over whether to revise the Constitution.

Mr Nukaga said that when considering a review of the export ban, Japan should be careful not to stoke fears among neighbouring Asian countries, many of which harbour deep resentment over Japan's past military aggression.

'There are neighbouring Asian countries that are concerned, so Japan needs to be careful not to upset them.'

In line with its post-war pacifist Constitution, Japan in 1967 banned the export of weapons to communist countries, those at war or which are on the prohibition list of the United Nations.

It expanded the prohibition in 1976 to all weapons exports but in 1983 made an exception to allow technological cooperation with its key security ally, the US.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said in December that the arms export ban was a subject for future discussion.