Japan-U.S. Defense Security Strategy Council

LDP, DPJ Dietmembers to discuss military strategy with U.S. counterparts supported by war industry

Liberal Democratic and Democratic party members with vested interests in an arms buildup, their U.S. counterparts, and representatives of Japanese and U.S. merchants of death, will hold a meeting in Tokyo from November 20-25, shortly after Japan's Lower House election.

It is a conference of the "Japan-U.S. Defense Security Strategy Council" to be held at the Parliamentary Museum in Tokyo, dedicated to the defense of the Japanese Constitution.

The discussion will be attended by Council members that include former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and senior fellows of the right-wing Heritage Foundation from the United States and influential defense-related lawmakers from Japan's Liberal Democratic, Democratic, Komei, and New Conservative parties. These Japanese lawmakers, who pushed the enactment of the war-contingency legislation, established in 1999 a parliamentary group on national defense. The group is chaired by Kawara Tsutomu (LDP), former Defense Agency director general.

Supported by Boeing and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

The Japan-U.S. Defense Security Strategy Council is backed by major U.S. firms, including Boeing, Lockheed, and Grumman which are making inroads in the Japanese market. Japan's major companies in the arms industry that participate in the Council include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Co., and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. These are the Japanese Defense Agency's top contractors.

The coming Japan-U.S. Defense Security Strategy Council meeting will focus on missile defense and other issues to help these corporations enjoy large profits from Japan's military buildup.

The missile-defense system, if introduced, is estimated at 6 trillion yen (54.5 billion dollars). Likewise, a new market as a result of an arms buildup will promise them even larger profits.

That the LDP and the DPJ explicitly call for an adverse revision of the Constitution in their election platforms indicates that constitutional revision will be followed by a huge budget for an arms buildup greatly benefiting the arms industries in both countries.

Discussion at parliamentary facility

The Japan-U.S. Defense Security Strategy Council's meeting will take place at the Parliamentary Museum, a parliamentary facility run by the House of Representatives. A missile defense exhibition to be held at the same time will display the Aegis ship-based missile launching system, a ground-based THAAD (Theater High Altitude Area Defense), and a life-sized model of Patriot PAC3 as a promotion campaign by Lockheed Martin Corporation.

The Parliamentary Museum was built in 1970 to mark the 80th anniversary of the Japanese parliament with the aim of giving the public a better understanding of parliamentary democracy. Any exhibition that takes place there is to be dedicated to the defense of the Constitution. It is tragic that the Parliamentary Museum is to be used for a campaign for a huge arms buildup. (end)