http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16135623%255E2703,00.html
Japan to speed up missile defence
Peter Alford, Tokyo correspondent
August 03, 2005
THE Japanese Government is trying to bring forward by up to a year the
deployment of a ballistic missile defence shield against the threat of North
Korean and Chinese attacks.
A senior Japan Defence Agency official has confirmed the two-tiered missile
defence program is being pursued with "a sense of urgency" and said that, if
necessary, extra funding could be allocated this year.
The agency's white paper, approved yesterday by cabinet, does not mention an
acceleration of the program but puts ballistic missile defence at the head of
its "effective responses to new threats and diverse contingencies" and cites
North Korea and China as the main sources of threat.
"North Korea's development, deployment and proliferation of ballistic missiles,
and the nuclear issue in general, is a main factor of instability for the Asian
Pacific region as well as the international community, and its moves are of
great concern," it says.
The white paper notes that China is developing new nuclear-capable
intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles and upgrading the
intermediate and medium-range missiles that cover Japan.
Mindful of recent spats with Beijing over military and strategic issues, Japan
Defence Agency director Yoshinori Ono said after the cabinet meeting: "I would
like to reiterate that China is not a threat to Japan. But there are issues
that require attention ... and we urge China to improve its transparency."
Earlier, when briefing reporters on the white paper, the senior agency official
would not confirm that Japan hoped to deploy a new generation of Patriot
surface-to-air missile, the PAC-3, by the end of this budget year next March, a
year ahead of schedule. But he made it clear "technical feasibility issues" for
integrating destroyer-launched SM-3 interceptor missiles with the land-based
PAC-3 system were close to being resolved.
"We have felt that this two-tier defence has become quite realistic, so whether
it's half a year or a year that the whole system is completed, the sooner it
can be constructed the more desirable it is for us ... We have had this sense
of urgency very keenly for some time," the official said.
Under the present schedule, the first of three PAC-3 units is supposed to be
deployed by March 2007 and Japan would start installing SM-3 systems in its
four Aegis missile destroyers the following year.
The two-tiered program is planned to be complete by March 2011. The system
would allow the Japanese to attack an incoming ballistic missile in mid-course
through the upper atmosphere with an SM-3 or, if that failed, in its "terminal
phase" with a land-based PAC-3.
The Japanese system is designed to mesh with the American Pacific missile
defence shield. The Defence Agency said Japan's close alliance with the US,
which stations more than 40,000 of its troops in an officially pacifist
country, was important "in maintaining peace and stability" in the region but
said China seemed "wary" of Washington.
The Defence of Japan white paper focuses most closely on China: its continual
expansion of military spending beyond national defence requirements, its
missile capabilities and its naval ambitions.
The paper notes that China's defence budget for this year rose by 12.6per cent
to 244.7billion yuan ($39.5billion), continuing an annual growth rate of more
than 10per cent in "announced" military spending for the 17th consecutive year.
However, the paper also notes the budget allocation does not cover equipment
procurement or research and development.
Japan's budget for defence for the next five years is about Y24trillion
($282billion).
Sino-Japanese relations have deteriorated in recent months as they argue over
energy resources and how they remember Japan's 1931-1945 occupation.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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