- Militant speeches are being made more and more frequently
in Tokyo. Leading Japanese politicians are trying to forget that the
Japanese
constitution prohibits Japan from having armed forces. However, now, some
Japanese politicians have decided that Japan needs nuclear weapons.
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- As the official Japanese government believes, the biggest
danger for Japan is North Korea and China. As is well known, Japan received
the American president's "axis of evil speech" with irritation
that was not concealed very well. No wonder, as North Korea is very close
to Japan. However, on the other hand, the Japanese government seems to
be using this situation in its own interests.
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- On April 4, Japanese Premier Koizumi asked
representatives
of the right-wing parties to assist in passing a bill that would empower
the prime minister with extreme powers in case of a military attack on
Japan. Pursuant to the bill, the prime minister of Japan will obtain
control
over all the local government bodies in such a case, as well as over all
public organizations. Of course, the bill is far from becoming reality,
but the ruling coalition has already approved it. The details are left
to be coordinated.
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- However, this is not a point for the Japanese government
to stop at. As The Times wrote, the leader of the Liberal Party, Ichiro
Ozawa, claimed last week that Japan was ready to start the production of
thousands of nuclear warheads in order to be able to oppose China's growing
military power. Ozawa said that Japan could produce thousands of warheads
if it wishes to do so. There is enough plutonium at Japanese nuclear power
plants for producing three or four thousand warheads. "If this
happens,
then no one will be able to overcome us from the point of view of military
power," - Ozawa said. The politician added that his speech was
supposed
to make China establish closer cooperation with Japan. Nevertheless, as
observers say, it will most likely happen vice versa, and Beijing will
perceive those words as the return of Japan's militarism, from which China
suffered greatly during World War II.
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- Japan's ability to create nuclear weapons within a very
short period of time does not raise any doubts. According to official
information,
the plutonium reserves at Japan's nuclear stations currently make up some
30 tons. This amount is enough to manufacture six thousand warheads.
However,
Japan is not willing to remind the world community of that, but the
technological
level of development in Japan is sufficient for producing this amount of
nuclear weapons within a rather short period of time.
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- The USA will hardly be thrilled about another country
obtaining weapons of mass destruction. Japan is America's close ally now,
but the memory of the World War II is still alive. On the other hand, Tokyo
may use arguments pertaining to the security guarantee for the country
from a possible attack of terrorists. Six thousand warheads are surely
excessive in this respect, taking into consideration the fact that, if
(God forbid!) such a conflict happens, then there will be nothing left
of the Japanese islands. Mr.Ozawa became a bit excited when he said that
no one would be able to defeat Japan from a military point of view if Japan
had its nuclear weapons. However, it is reality to establish a good army
instead of a waning self-defense, especially when there are two propaganda
bugaboos such as North Korea and China nearby. Relations with Russia have
not been perfect lately either.
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- Of course, the possibility of Japan obtaining its own
army is hypothetical now, but the Japanese self-defense detachments have
been appearing in hotspots quite often lately. These are military doctors
so far, but Japan did not send its military men abroad even for
humanitarian
purposes before.
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- In Japan, there is large resistance to the plans of
greater
participation of the Japanese armed forces in the operations abroad, but,
judging by the latest speeches of Japanese politicians, the idea of a
Japanese
army to get back into the world picture has not been torn away from the
country. It seems that Tokyo is now aimed at a gradual, very neat creation
of its armed forces, which will underline the considerable role that Japan
is playing in modern international politics, or maybe even make it bigger.
However, there are no doubts that Japan's neighbors will react negatively
to the process and another arms race in the Far East is very likely to
happen.
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- http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/04/08/27428.html
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