|
Japan's new defense
outline names China and DPRK as major threats
The Japanese government will decide its "New
Outline of National Defense" in early December, in
which China and DPRK are singled out as major threats
to the country, the Japan Times reported on November
27.
The government submitted on November 25 a draft of the
new outline to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party
(LDP), which put China and DPRK as its main threats,
the newspaper revealed.
The draft declared alarmingly that "military
development in DPRK is a serious destabilizing factor
of the region", and "Japan must watch closely the
modernization of Chinese armies".
This is the first time that the Japanese government
names certain countries as its major threats. The
current defense outline only indicates that
destabilizing and unpredictable elements exist in
surrounding areas including the Korean Peninsula.
It must be pointed out, however, that in 2003 Japan's
military expenditure stood at more than 45 billion US
dollars, over three times that of China. Analysts say
the Japanese playing up of other countries' military
strength and spending is purely meant to divert
attention away from its own military buildup.
The Japan Defense Agency and Ministry of Finance have
been split on the size of the Ground Self-Defense
Force in formulating the new defense outline.
According to reports from Kyodo News Agency, the
Defense Agency hopes to keep the Force at 160,000
people, while the Ministry stands for cutting it to
120,000. At the November 25 meeting, the Ministry gave
in by suggesting a number of 140,000, but the Agency
said " 150,000 and no less".
Besides, the Japanese government is also planning to
cut its next medium-term defense budget. The spending
for 2005-09 was set around 25 trilllion yen, and a cut
of 1 trillion yen for the next five-year-period plan
is being considered. This is the first time that the
government cuts defense budget since the current plan
was adopted in 1986.
Meanwhile, disputes arose between LDP and the Komei
Party on whether to loosen weaponry export.
According to Kyodo report, the Komei Party holds that
"the three principles on weaponry export is a pillar
of a pacifist country", and therefore opposes adding "loosen
weaponry export" into the new defense outline. Japan
published its "three principles on weaponry export" in
1967 which prohibits weapon exports to countries under
UN sanctions and those involved in international
conflicts. In 1976, the then Cabinet published the "unified
governmental opinion" which laid an overall
prohibition on arms export. According to it, Japan can
neither export weapons nor cooperate with other
countries in weapon development and manufacture. Due
to opposition from the Komei Party, the government
decided internally on November 25 that loosening of
weapon export will not be included into the new
outline, but it still considers loosening the export
of component parts of its missile defense system. The
Japanese government, as Kyodo pointed out, is in fact
still seeking for broadening its weapon export.
By People's Daily Online
|
