Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 18 December 2003 1515 hrs
Japan reviewing arms export ban to join US missile
defense system
TOKYO, : Japan is reviewing its self-imposed ban on arms exports as part of
efforts to develop missile defense systems with the United States, government
leaders say.
The government is expected to lift the ban for parts that could be used by the
United
States to produce missile defense-related equipment, the Yomiuri Shimbun
newspaper reported Thursday.
Japan has been jointly researching with the United States development of
missile defense systems since 1999.
"There is a debate on whether it is acceptable that we cannot exchange
the results of our (joint) research," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo
Fukuda told a news conference.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also told reporters: "Such a debate has
been going on for a while and we will continue to study it."
The export ban, in place since 1967, prevents Tokyo from exporting weapons to
communist nations, those subject to UN-imposed arms embargoes and those
involved in armed disputes.
The policy was widened to ban all military exports in 1978.
By the end of 2004, the government also plans to review the nation's basic
defense
framework adopted in 1976 and reviewed in 1995, as well as the current
five-year defense program, the Yomiuri said.
Under the review, the government will change the focus of defense programmes
from threats of Cold War-style foreign invasion to "new threats"
such as terrorist attacks and ballistic missiles from other nations, it said.
These plans will be completed at a meeting of the Security Council of Japan
and at a cabinet meeting Friday, the paper said.
