Japan’s ruling party is discussing whether to ease military equipment export rules, in part because without a change, the UK would not be able to sell any jet fighters it builds with Japan, former Japanese minister of defense Itsunori Onodera said.
Japan and Britain hope to agree by the end of the year to merge their next-generation Tempest and F-X fighter programs, sources said in July.
Those talks, aimed at a joint project to field a plane in the mid-2030s, remain on track, according to four other people familiar with the discussions.
Photo: AFP / Japan`s Ministry of Defense
“Japan could not oppose exports and neither could we insist that Japanese components be removed, so we are discussing what we can do about that,” said Onodera, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) Research Commission on National Security.
Japan ended a ban on military exports in 2014 in a bid to promote overseas sales. It hoped the change would allow its armed forces to cut procurement costs and give domestic military equipment makers such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd access to foreign markets that would boost profits and bolster the nation’s defense industry.
However, an export boom failed to materialize because Japan only allowed sales of nonlethal gear such as surveillance and rescue equipment.
Photo: Bloomberg
“If we are going to sell beyond the countries we jointly develop with, we will need to settle the discussion at home,” Onodera said.
The influential lawmaker spoke as Japan prepares to increase defense spending and revamp its national security strategy to counter what it sees as a growing threat posed by China, Russia and North Korea.
As part of its biggest military expansion since World War II, Japan is expected to procure fresh munitions, including longer-range missiles, spend on cyberdefenses and create a combined air, sea and land command headquarters that would work more closely with US forces in Japan.
LDP lawmakers are also discussing a joint US-Japan command structure that could be formed for national emergencies, Onodera said.
“In order to defend Japan, we would be working with the United States to deploy units, so it’s only natural that we would want to discuss having a combined command,” he said.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
RSS