Japan Press Weekly

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2013 November 13 - 19 [POLITICS]

JCP Inoue criticizes gov’t for expanding war industry

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Inoue Satoshi, during a meeting of the security committee held on November 13, criticized the Abe government for attempting to incorporate arms expansion into national strategies in order to grant the war industry its wish.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in May visited Turkey with more than 100 business leaders in tow, including the chairman of Japan Business Federation and the president of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Thanks to Abe’s sales pitch, Mitsubishi reportedly succeeded in agreeing to launch a joint venture with the Turkish government to develop armored tank engines for the Turkish military along with a contract to construct a nuclear power plant.

Pointing out that this is the first-ever joint venture established between a Japanese corporation and a foreign corporation involving military equipment, Inoue stated, “This is a clear indication of Japan’s military expansion going together with the growth of Japan’s war industry.”

The Japanese government is also aiming to create an organization to assist in defense technology development modeled after the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Related past articles:
> Abe cabinet helps to export Japan’s nuclear power technology abroad [May 13, 2013]
> Exporting nuclear power plants ignores Fukushima crisis [May 8, 2013]