Unacceptable government 'understanding' of U.S. missile defense -- Akahata editorial, June 12, 2001

The missile defense system which the U.S. Bush administration is promoting is now a major issue in Japan and the rest of the world.

Asian and European countries are opposed to the NMD as possibly inciting a new arms race; Japan's Koizumi Cabinet has shown "understanding" and is actually taking part in Japan-U.S. joint research on the theater missile defense (TMD) system which is an integral part of the U.S. national missile defense (NMD) system.

In the recent one-on-one debate with opposition party leaders, Prime Minister Koizumi blatantly praised the U.S. missile defense plan, saying that it could make nuclear weapons impotent.

Countries voice opposition and apprehension

The missile defense system is being planned to target enemy ballistic missiles immediately after they are fired or in outer space to shoot them down with missiles. Clearly this would cause a new arms race, as the enemy would naturally try to counter with more missiles.

The Soviet Union, a one-time rival of the U.S. in the arms race, no longer exists as such. The U.S. tries to explain that such a missile defense is needed to counter ballistic missiles from unpredictable enemies, but this is not convincing.

This is why not only China and Russia but France, Germany, and other U.S. military allies are opposed to the missile defense plan.

In the recent NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) defense ministers' conference, the U.S. failed to persuade its allies into accepting the program. U.S. Secretary of Defense had to admit that the NMD plan is not welcomed by other alliance partners.

Criticism is increasing in the U.S., as indicated by the Senate military committee chair and foreign affairs committee chair expressing doubts.

Against this backdrop, the Japanese government stands out with its show of "understanding." It is no wonder that this has pleased the Bush administration as being of vital significance.

This is the way for Japan to play a role in accelerating the arms race in contradiction to its constitutional commitment to renunciation of war in the Constitution.

The U.S. Bush administration has never said that missile defense will help to eliminate nuclear weapons. This only shows how uninformed Prime Minister Koizumi is.

In the NATO defense ministers meeting, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stressed the need for "nuclear deterrence,ﾓ which has been used to justify the nuclear arms race, and tried to persuade allies by stating that the U.S. will not reduce nuclear or conventional weapons deployed in Europe.

The missile defense system goes against the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. The U.S. admits that the ABM treaty will be abolished in order to go ahead with the missile defense scheme.

The missile defense system will extend the arms race into outer space. There will be no chance that nuclear weapons and missiles become harmless.

With NMD and TMD being integrated, Japan, which conducts joint research on TMD, will be incorporated into the system of intercepting missiles targeted at the U.S.

This runs counter to the constitutional principle of peace, which prohibits Japan from using or threatening to use force as a means of settling international disputes.

Japan's foreign policy must be independent of the U.S.

A broad range of people, irrespective of party affiliation, are critical of the U.S. Bush administration's missile defense plan and are warning the public about its danger.

The Koizumi Cabinet's "understanding" of the U.S. missile defense plan and its promotion of joint research with the U.S. on TMD as part of NMD is a manifestation of Liberal Democratic Party politics subordinate to the U.S. under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

The Japanese Communist Party demands that Japan change its foreign policy from one of obeying U.S. orders to one of independence. It also calls on the government to stop cooperating with the U.S. on military plans that run counter to the Asian trend toward peace and that lead to a renewed nuclear arms race. (end)