U.S. missile sales promoted at Japan's Constitutional Museum

Giant arms manufacturers which are developing missile defense systems in the United States exhibited life-size models of missiles at the Constitutional Museum in Tokyo in November.

"It is unprecedented for the Constitutional Museum dedicated to the defense of the Constitution to be used for U.S. weapons sales promotion," commented Akahata on November 21.

The arms exhibition was held in parallel with the Japan-U.S. Defense Strategy Council conference at the Constitutional Museum (Nov. 20-22).

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen in a keynote address expressed support for Japan to have a missile defense system and stressed the importance of cooperation between the two countries.

A Boeing Corporation spokesman revealed that his company has ties with eleven countries in the world since the U.S. seceded from the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty. This suggests that the company is trying to sell the missile defense technology worldwide. The ABM treaty prohibits the transfer of missile defense technology to a third country.

The Defense Agency is demanding a budget of 142.3 billion yen for FY 2004 to introduce the MDS. The total cost for MDS is estimated to be several trillion yen. (end)