Japan to proceed with missile programme

Japan will proceed with a ballistic missile defence programme with its closest ally, the US, a top government official said today despite concerns that the project may further erode Japan’s pacifist constitution.

The missile defence shield, using missiles deployed on an Aegis warship to intercept attacking ones before they reach their targets, comes as part of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s sweeping changes to Japan’s defence policy.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said the joint shield is necessary and vowed it will be purely for defence purposes.

“Amid the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, the system is genuinely defensive, and the only instrument to protect the lives and assets of our people,” Abe said.

“It suits the defence policy of our country, whose policy is to limit forces for defence.”

The project requires Japan to relax its nearly three-decades-old ban on arms exports to communist bloc nations, countries under United Nations arms embargoes, and those engaged in conflicts – including the US.

But Abe said the easing will not violate a ban on using military force to settle international disputes enshrined in Japan’s post-Second World War constitution.

“Based on the basic principle as a pacifist nation, we will continue to cautiously deal with arms export control,” he said. “Should there be a need to provide weapons to the US under the joint project, Japan will do so under an extremely strict control.”

Japan has deployed some 600 troops on a humanitarian mission in southern Iraq since early 2004 – its first military dispatch to an active war zone since the Second World War.

Earlier this month, Tokyo extended the troop deployment for one year, defying rising domestic opposition to the mission largely over safety concerns.

Ruling lawmakers are also considering amending the constitution to allow the military to play a greater role overseas.

Peace activists and opposition lawmakers say the development of a missile shield will boost the country’s military power and will likely raise concerns among Tokyo’s East Asian neighbours who suffered at the hands of Japan’s brutal militaristic campaign in the first half of the last century.