Japan’s government has agreed to sell new fighter jets it is making with Britain and Italy to other countries. This goes against Japan’s history of avoiding war since World War II.
The controversial choice to allow selling weapons to other countries will help Japan to have a part in the joint fighter jet project. This is also a step to help build up Japan’s arms industry and increase its role in global security.
The Cabinet approved a change to Japan’s rules on selling military equipment and technology. Now, we can sell weapons made with another country to other countries too, not just the ones we work with.
Japan has always limited how many weapons it exports because of its peaceful constitution. But recently, it has started to relax these rules because of tensions with China and other countries nearby.
The choice to sell jets will let Japan sell weapons it helps make to other countries for the first time.
Japan, Italy, and the UK are working together to make a new and better fighter jet to take the place of their old American F-2 fighters and Eurofighter Typhoons.
Japan was working on a new airplane called the F-X, but then decided to work together with a British-Italian program called the Tempest in December 2022. for use in 2035. The project called Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) is located in the UK.
Japan wants the new plane to have better abilities that will help them in the region where there are more problems. They want to be more advanced than China and Russia.
Japan doesn’t have a big military because it caused a lot of harm in the past and was defeated in World War II. Its constitution only allows the military to be used for self-defense. The country had a strong rule to not send weapons or military technology to other countries, and to never export deadly weapons.
Critics disagree with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government for deciding to go ahead with the fighter jet project without telling the public or getting approval for the big policy change.
To solve these worries, the government is only allowing a small amount of weapons to be sent to the jet that were developed together, and has promised not to sell any for use in wars happening right now.
The government said the new rule only affects the jet for now, and it needs approval from the Cabinet to apply to other things. Possible buyers can only come from the 15 countries that Japan has agreed to work with on defense and equipment transfer.
Recent surveys show that people have different opinions about the plan.
In 2014, Japan started sending non-deadly military supplies to other countries. Last December, they also said it’s okay to sell 80 deadly weapons and parts that they make to the countries that gave them the licenses to make those weapons. The change allowed Japan to sell U. SPatriot missiles to the United States, which will help replace weapons that the U. Sis giving to Ukraine.
The Cabinet said that stopping the sale of weapons would make it harder to make the new jet and would make Japan less important in the project. Italy and the UK want to sell the jets to help pay for the cost of making them.
Kishida wanted the Cabinet to agree before signing the GCAP agreement in February, but it was delayed because his coalition partner, the Komeito party, disagreed.
Kishida is going to visit Washington in April. He wants to show that Japan is ready to be more involved in military and defense partnerships.
Exports would also make Japan’s defense industry stronger because they have only sold to their own military in the past. Kishida wants to make their military stronger. Even though the industry has tried hard for the last ten years, it still hasn’t been able to attract many customers.