Japan's Cabinet approves new defense plan

TOKYO -- In a shift away from its postwar pacifism, Japan overhauled its defense guidelines Friday, easing an arms exports ban, authorizing the joint development of a missile defense system with the United States and singling out North Korea and China as security threats.

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The plan, approved in a morning Cabinet meeting, also called for Japan to participate in international peacekeeping missions, underscoring Tokyo's efforts to play a global security role better matching its economic strength.

The revised guidelines also fit with Japan's decade-long effort to increase security cooperation with the United States. The pro-U.S. government Thursday approved a one-year extension of the military's 550-soldier humanitarian mission in Iraq.

The plan allows Japan to ease a longtime ban on arms exports to allow it to develop a missile defense program with the United States. The guidelines also cited the threats posed by North Korean missiles, China's military buildup and terrorism.

"We must be able to effectively respond to ... large disasters, terrorist attacks and other new threats," Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono said. "And we have to get actively involved with international peacekeeping activities."

Acknowledging the budget pressures Japan will face as its population rapidly ages, however, the guidelines call for cutting the number of ground forces and tanks. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday approved a 3.7 percent cut in defense spending to $233 billion for the next five years.

North Korea became one of Tokyo's biggest security worries after it test-fired a long-range ballistic missile over Japan in 1998, prompting Tokyo to begin researching missile defense. Pyongyang also has an active nuclear weapons development program.

Japan has maintained an arms export ban since 1976. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said the government, however, would make exceptions to pursue missile defense with Washington because of the contribution this would make to the Japan-U.S. security alliance and Japan's own national security.

The bending of long-held principles has raised concerns about a slow erosion of the pacifist society Japan built since adopting its current war-renouncing constitution after World War II.

The changes have been watched uneasily by some of Japan's Asian neighbors, who suffered under Tokyo's expansionist policies in the first half of the 20th century. The guidelines sought to allay such fears, saying Japan's military would not go on the offensive.

"Our country, under our constitution, will adhere exclusively to self-defense," the report said. "Following our policy of not becoming a major military power that would pose a threat to other countries, we will secure civilian control."

The guidelines also vowed to maintain the current policy of not possessing nuclear weapons, not making them and not allowing them into Japan, the only country attacked with atomic bombs.

The new defense outline, which covers a period from April 1, 2005, through March 31, 2009, also singles out China as a security concern, pointing out that Beijing has expanded the range of its military activities at sea and has been modernizing its naval and air force.

Hosoda played down the reference, however.

"It does not mean that we consider China a threat," Hosoda said at a news conference.

Japan's navy went on alert last month when a Chinese submarine was detected in the country's waters between the southern island of Okinawa and Taiwan. Japan says China apologized, but tensions remain high.