Japan Press Weekly

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2023 June 7 - 13 [POLITICS]

Bill to financially support arms industry enacted

The Diet, at a House of Councilors plenary session, on June 7 enacted a bill to financially support the domestic arms industry and strengthen the industry's base by the majority vote of ruling parties, the "Ishin" party, Democratic Party for the People, and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. The Japanese Communist Party and the Okinawa Whirlwind voted against the bill.

At an Upper House Defense Committee meeting on the previous day, JCP Dietmember Yamazoe Taku noted that a relevant government panel had discussed the need to transform the defense industry into a growth industry, and that the ruling parties are discussing the lifting of the ban on lethal weapons' exports.

Yamazoe said, "To stimulate economic growth by taking advantage of armed conflicts occurring somewhere in the world would turn the country into a 'merchant of death'."

The new law helps to support and reinforce the production lines and supply chains in Japan's military industrial complex. It covers the manufacturing lines shared with civilian goods as well and also covers profitable firms. Under the law, it is possible for the government to place unprofitable manufacturing lines under state control so that the arms sector does not have to bear the cost of investment and maintenance for its unprofitable facilities. The law also provides subsidies to arms-exporting firms for their new sales channels. In short, the bill will greatly benefit the military industrial complex as a whole.

Past related article:
> Diet debate on bill benefiting arms industry begins in Upper House [May 27, 2023]