Japan-United States conduct joint military exercises; Japan decides not to relax the arms export ban; declassified reports highlight debates over nuclear future of Japan
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    • In a very important development at the backdrop of the tensions on the Korean Peninsular the United States and Japan wrapped up seven days of joint military exercises. About 40,000 U.S. and Japanese military personnel took part in these exercises. This was called the largest joint field training exercise between the two nations. This was the 10th such exercise since 1986.1 Meanwhile, this exercise was temporarily suspended when two Russian reconnaissance planes were spotted over the Sea of Japan. This was stated by the Defense Ministry sources. The Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces were conducting an exercise which included simulating the interception of ballistic missiles off Noto Peninsula. It was reported that the Russian planes flew from north to south over the area where the missile-intercepting exercise was being conducted, and they continued to fly over the Sea of Japan for a few hours after that.2

    On the domestic front, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) executives have decided that they will not rule out the possibility of penalizing the ruling party's powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa if he ignores a request to explain to parliament about a money scandal involving him.3

    There are also reports which suggest that the government's decision not to relax the nation's de facto arms export ban in new defense guidelines will result in Japan being left out of joint projects involving defense equipment with nations other than the United States. There are two sides involving this development while some in the government have voiced concern the nation's defense industry will lag behind in technology, others have said the decision may negatively affect relations with the United States.4

    In other developments, according to reports, Japanese declassified diplomatic documents have shown that the Foreign Ministry of Japan had long debates over the issue whether to give up the right to possess nuclear weapons. This was prior to Japan becoming a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1970. The 15 documents released by the ministry which include the diplomatic policy guidelines in 1969, suggest that the ministry was wavering between leaving an option to arm Japan with nuclear weapons in the future and joining the NPT.5

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