Opinion
November 30, 2004
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
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