JAPAN and anti-missile defense

Now that Japan is an ally of the US, Washington regrets that its US sponsored constitution contains a pacifist clause and is using pressure to have it modified. It has urged Japan to forge closer ties on missile defense and said US-made missile defense systems would be useful for Japan to shield against possible attacks. Visiting US missile defense chief Lieutenant-General Ronald Kadish told Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba that Washington wanted to secure closer cooperation from Japan on its planned missile defense shield. Kadish told Ishiba that the US combination of an Aegis ship-based interception system and Patriot ground-to-air system would be useful for Japan. Ishiba told Kadish that Japan would need more discussions on the missile defense system before making any concrete decision. Japan has been considering introducing the two US-developed missile defense systems to cope with possible attacks by a third country, notably North Korea. Ship-based missile defense (SMD) using Aegis-equipped destroyers is designed to intercept short- and mid-range ballistic missiles at mid-course. The Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) ground-to-air system is designed to shoot down missiles that the ship-based system fails to intercept. In August 1998, North Korea alarmed the world by launching a Taepodong-1 missile that passed over Japan, demonstrating that areas with large populations including Tokyo were within the weapon's estimated 1'000-km range. The surprise test-firing of the North Korean missile prompted Japan to start studying with Washington a theater missile defense system, a variant of the US national missile defense system, aimed at shielding US troops and allies in Asia. (Reuters, 6/16/03).

Ronald Hilton - 6/24/03