Defence Japan to allow arms exports

Japan's government has endorsed amendments enabling the country to sell completed arms, such as Patriot missiles, in a major shift of its pacifist stance. The revisions were facilitated by the Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology, later ratified by the National Security Council for their execution. The government had prohibited weapons exports as a rule in 1976, invoking the pacifist Article 9 of the Constitution.

In 2014, when Shinzo Abe was prime minister, the government scrapped the three principles regarding weapons exports. It replaced them with the current principles of transferring defence equipment and technology. On Dec. 22, the government quickly took advantage of the revisions and approved the export of finished Patriot surface-to-air missiles to the United States. The latest revisions did not require changing laws, so no deliberations were held in the Diet. The revisions were decided on by 12 lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and junior coalition partner, Komeito, in closed-door sessions. In effect, the public was kept out of the loop for what constitutes a major policy course change by the government.

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The three principles remained unchanged, but the revised guidelines allowed for exporting complete and lethal defence equipment to more countries. For instance, Japan-made defence parts under a U.S. license could only go to the U.S. before. Now, finished products and defence equipment can be sent to any country with a license with Japan to produce locally. Japan has 79 products under license with eight countries: the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden and Norway. They can all receive the finished products now. Japan's consent is needed to export licensed products to a third country. Countries at war, like Ukraine and Israel, cannot get such weapons.