JAPAN took another step away from its post-World War II pacifism yesterday by ending its decades-old ban on military exports and telling defence planners to regard China and North Korea as threats. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet agreed to allow military sales — only to the US and for missile defence — a day after it extended Japan's ground-breaking deployment to Iraq for another year. The policy change yesterday came in the form of a set of guidelines for defence policymakers, updated for the first time in nine years, along with a five-year outline for military procurements set to begin from April next year. The guidelines approved by the Cabinet said Japan needed to change its mindset to have "multi-function, flexible defence capabilities" to deal with "new threats and various situations". A statement by the Government spokesman said Japan needed to change its stance on missile parts exports "to contribute to the effective management of the Japan-US security alliance and secure the safety of our country", but subject to "strict controls".
North Korea shocked the world in 1998 by firing a missile over Japan, leading Tokyo and Washington to begin to study a missile interception shield. But Japan was forbidden from exporting missile components to its close ally as it has had a defence-only security policy since its bitter defeat in World War II. The US-imposed constitution of 1947 said Japan would forever renounce war, leading Japan to produce top-of-the-line equipment which its military — known as the Self-Defence Forces — is forbidden to use. In 1967, Japan said it would voluntarily stop all weapons sales to communist countries and other states perceived to threaten world peace. The self-imposed ban was tightened in 1976 to rule out all weapons exports. |