Japan Press Weekly

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2018 September 26 - October 2 [POLITICS]

Koike criticizes Abe for excessive subservience to Trump in US weapons purchase

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira on September 29 at a speech gathering in Tokyo criticized Prime Minister Abe Shinzo for always agreeing to buy more U.S.-made weapons in Japan-U.S. summit meetings in line with U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands.

Trump on September 28 told the press that in the summit meeting held two days earlier, he urged the Japan side to import more weapons from the U.S. by saying, “You have to do me a favor. You’re going to have to buy more.” Trump boasted, “They’re buying massive amounts of equipment and military equipment.” In the talks, PM Abe said that Japan will purchase more military equipment from the U.S., according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide.

Koike criticized Abe for irresponsibly promising to use a large amount of taxpayers’ money to purchase American weapons.

Among issues surrounding Japan’s weapons purchase from the U.S., Koike referred to the foreign military support (FMS) program, the U.S. government program to sell U.S. weapons to governments of other countries. The Abe government buys an increasingly large amount of military equipment from the U.S. under this program. Koike explained that when using the program, the Japanese government has to accept prices set by the U.S. government regardless of how outlandishly high they may be. Koike stated that Abe’s promise to increase weapons purchases is unacceptable as it goes against the pacifist principle of Article 9 of the Constitution and leads to heavy financial burdens on Japan.

Past related articles:
> JCP Hatayama: US defense industry will benefit from Abe-Trump ties [February 21, 2017]
> Washington’s weapons sales to Tokyo jumps under Abe regime [April 29, 2016]