Ministry officials were at a military space meeting

Japan Press Weekly

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Ministry officials were at a military space meeting

It has been learned that officials of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as well as members of the ministry’s Space Activities Commission attended a meeting for the promotion of the use of space for military purposes.

Japanese Communist Party representative Yoshii Hidekatsu at the House of Representatives Cabinet Committee meeting on March 26 criticized the ministry officials’ participation in such a meeting as running counter to the 1969 Diet resolution limiting the use of space to peaceful purposes.

The meeting in question was the “Space Defense Forum 2007” held in Tokyo on November 16 last year sponsored by NEC Corporation.

At this forum, Ralph E. “Ed” Eberhart, former general of the U.S. Air Force, and James A. Lewis, senior fellow of the U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), spoke on the “Use of space in homeland security” and “Space and national security,” respectively, with the view of promoting the militarization of space, including the advance of the missile defense project.

Yoshii pointed out that former as well as current officials of the Defense Ministry are participating in a group within the Liberal Democratic Party that was established to study the utilization of space, ostensibly for Japan’s security, but actually aiming at military expansion.

Citing the fact that the ruling parties are seeking the enactment of a basic law on space with the aim of paving the way for using space for military purposes, Yoshii said, “It’s obvious that the ruling parties, military bureaucrats, and the arms industry are working together to promote the use of space for military objectives.”

-Akahata, March 27, 2008