SDP leader to urge Kan to stick to Japan's arms embargo policy

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TOKYO, Dec. 5 Kyodo -
Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima said Sunday the government
needs to adhere to Japan's longstanding policy of not exporting arms in
principle, suggesting she may use the issue as a bargaining chip in
negotiations over the fiscal 2011 budget.
''I will tell Prime Minister Naoto Kan firmly not to review'' the three
principles of weapons exports, a virtual national ban on arms exports,
Fukushima said during a street speech in Yachiyo, Chiba Prefecture, ahead of
her meeting with the premier on Monday.
''We are standing at a crossroads on whether Japan will export weapons
overseas,'' Fukushima said. ''Once we start to depend on the military industry,
our society will turn to one that cannot survive without wars.''
She has already suggested that the SDP, which used to be part of the ruling
coalition, is ready to oppose the fiscal 2011 budget if the government reviews
the policy, while several lawmakers, such as Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa,
have been calling for the easing of it.
A policy panel of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan is slated to discuss
Monday whether the review of the arms embargo policy should be reflected in a
new national defense program outline.
The three principles were established in 1967 when the Cabinet under Prime
Minister Eisaku Sato prohibited weapons exports to communist states, nations
involved in international conflicts and countries to which exports are banned
under a U.N. resolution.
==Kyodo