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Japan denies plans to review arms exports ban

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's top spokesman denied on Monday that the government would review its arms export ban, just days after the defense minister said it was time to rethink the controls so Tokyo could develop weapons with the United States.

"Basically, that is not the case," top government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters in Tokyo, when asked about recent comments by defense Minister Fumio Kyuma.

Japan since the 1960s has banned arms exports to countries that have communist governments, are subject to UN sanctions or are involved in international conflict. In 1976 it expanded those "three principles" to effectively ban all arms exports.

The ban was loosened in 2004 to allow Japan, whose military activities are curtailed by its postwar pacifist constitution, to cooperate with the United States on missile defense technology.

"The 'three principles' on arms exports are an extremely important policy for this country, so we want to deal with this cautiously," Shiozaki said.

Last week, Kyuma called for a review of arms export controls in a speech at a conservative US think tank, Kyodo news agency said.

"It is time to study whether the current situation is the way it should be," Kyodo quoted Kyuma as saying. "It is costly to develop defense equipment and hard for one country to do so alone. We have to carry out joint study and development."

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Druze

Good news for the entire US aerospace and defense industry. That would be unwelcomed competition in a very competitive market.

joey

bad news for India... I wanted the oyashio class boats.

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www.techenclave.com
I'm very much gentleman :)

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