TOKYO: Japan loosened arms export controls on Friday to enable it to sell domestically made Patriot missiles to the United States, which is seeking to stock up after sending the weapon systems to Ukraine.

Washington has supplied Kyiv with the highly-effective Patriot air defence systems as part of the massive Western military aid effort to help President Volodymyr Zelensky’s country fight back against Russia’s invasion.

“We welcome the Government of Japan’s announcement today that it will transfer Patriot interceptor missiles to the United States to replenish US inventories,” the White House said in a statement.

Japan produces the PAC3 surface-to-air missile defence system, paying a licence fee to US defence firm Lockheed Martin which developed the system. Japan strictly controls the export of arms under its pacifist constitution, which limits its military capacity to ostensibly defensive measures.

“The appropriate transfer of defence equipment overseas will contribute to international peace and security, and will also strengthen cooperation with allies and the US,” a Tokyo government document said after the rule was approved by the Cabinet.

Sales of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC3) system to the United States would be Japan’s first export of lethal arms since the end of World War II, local media reported.

With the new rule Japan “will be able to export arms which were domestically produced under licence of a foreign company to the licensing country”, an official in the prime minister’s cabinet said. A senior ruling party official told reporters this week that the export plan was at the request of Washington, Kyodo News reported.

US President Joe Biden raised the issue with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a meeting at Camp David in August, as well as during an economic summit in San Francisco last month, The Washington Post reported this week, citing unnamed US officials.

Washington is increasingly looking to its allies to supply sophisticated weapons against the backdrop of a shortfall in Ukraine’s air defences, with South Korea quietly pledging to provide hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition to Kyiv over the past year, the newspaper said.

The White House added that Friday’s decision “will contribute to the security of Japan and to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region by ensuring that

US forces will continue to maintain a credible deterrence and response capability.” Japan used to ban all exports of defence equipment but in 2014 the late prime minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet loosened the rules.

The country’s defence industry is small, with the only customer being the Japanese military and the market estimated at around 3 trillion yen ($20 billion) annually — less than some individual US defence contractors’ yearly revenues.

The government also approved on Friday a record defence budget worth $56 billion for the next fiscal year, in line with Kishida’s goal of doubling defence spending to the Nato standard of two percent of GDP by 2027.Separately, the United States said it will impose sanctions on foreign banks that support Russia’s war in Ukraine, in a new bid to exert pressure on Moscow as it diversifies from the West to China.

Under an executive order signed by President Joe Biden, the United States will slap so-called secondary sanctions against financial institutions that back companies already targeted for supporting Russia’s defense industry.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2023

Opinion

Who bears the cost?

Who bears the cost?

This small window of low inflation should compel a rethink of how the authorities and employers understand the average household’s

Editorial

Internet restrictions
23 Dec, 2024

Internet restrictions

JUST how much longer does the government plan on throttling the internet is a question up in the air right now....
Bangladesh reset
23 Dec, 2024

Bangladesh reset

THE vibes were positive during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent meeting with Bangladesh interim leader Dr...
Leaving home
23 Dec, 2024

Leaving home

FROM asylum seekers to economic migrants, the continuing exodus from Pakistan shows mass disillusionment with the...
Military convictions
Updated 22 Dec, 2024

Military convictions

Pakistan’s democracy, still finding its feet, cannot afford such compromises on core democratic values.
Need for talks
22 Dec, 2024

Need for talks

FOR a long time now, the country has been in the grip of relentless political uncertainty, featuring the...
Vulnerable vaccinators
22 Dec, 2024

Vulnerable vaccinators

THE campaign to eradicate polio from Pakistan cannot succeed unless the safety of vaccinators and security personnel...