Japan wants to loosen its ban on exporting weapons,The first round of discussions to reform Japan’s stringent laws governing the export of weapons was held on Tuesday, according to the Kyodo news agency.
In light of the situation in Ukraine, the Prime Minister Fumio Kishida-led Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is pressing for the restrictions on exporting defense technology and equipment to be loosened. Tokyo is expected to play a larger role in international security as a result.
According to the Constitution, which was written after Japan lost World War II, a foreign country can only get weapons if it develops them with Japan or produces them.
The LDP’s junior coalition partner, Komeito, has opposed the revisions, claiming that the introduction of Japanese weapons to the worldwide market will violate the nation’s pacifist policy and worsen international conflicts.
“I hope our discussions will set a concrete direction for issues regarding defense equipment transfers,” Itsunori Onodera, the former Japanese defense minister who now heads the LDP’s research commission on national security, said as the parties met in Tokyo.
During the discussions, Komeito’s representative, Shigeki Sato, reiterated his party’s stance that the sides should not compromise “the postwar path of Japan as a peace-loving nation,” as cited by Kyodo.
The talks were unable to break the deadlock, with the LDP and Komeito agreeing to hold a second meeting after the country’s Golden Week holidays, which end in early May.
In the year since the outbreak of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, Japan has supplied protective equipment such as bulletproof vests and helmets to Ukraine. Tokyo has also provided Kiev with more than $6 billion in financial aid and imposed sanctions on Russia. However, the Japanese Constitution has prevented the country from sending weapons and ammunition, as many Western nations have.
During a surprise visit to Kiev last month, Kishida assured President Vladimir Zelensky of Japan’s “unwavering solidarity” with Ukraine. He also said that the two countries have agreed to upgrade their bilateral ties to ‘special global partnership’.
In an interview with Reuters earlier this month, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol stated that if the conflict in Ukraine worsens, Seoul would start deploying weapons there. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who currently serves as the deputy chairman of the Security Council in his nation, issued a warning that if this occurred, Moscow may provide North Korea with cutting-edge weapons.
Shortly after, a second report from Reuters citing an unnamed South Korean source claimed that Yoon had been speaking “in hypothetical terms” and that Seoul had no intention of endangering its relations with Moscow.
