Japanese protesters rally against ruling coalition's plan to ease arms export

TOKYO, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Japanese protesters held a rally on Thursday afternoon in front of the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Tokyo, voicing strong opposition to a plan by the ruling coalition to relax restrictions on exports of weapons significantly.

At the rally, protesters held placards reading "Don't sell 'Made in Japan' weapons," "No war," and "Firmly oppose weapons exports," urging the ruling LDP and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, to halt all efforts aimed at easing weapons export restrictions.

Yoko Sugiura, one of the protesters, told Xinhua that the existing five-category restriction helps curb the export of lethal weapons. She warned that the abolition of the restriction could lead to Japanese-made weapons being used to kill people in other countries and called on the ruling coalition to abandon the plan as soon as possible.

Another protester, Paul McCartin from Australia, said, "I oppose war and do not want weapons or warships made in Japan to be exported to other countries." He added that one of the responsibilities of politicians is to safeguard peace, not to start wars.

An anonymous protester said that "Japan is a country that cannot wage war, yet is revising laws to export weapons used for warfare while priding itself on being a country ruled by law. I think this is absolutely wrong and totally unacceptable."

Representatives of the protesters submitted a petition to the LDP on the same day, calling for an immediate halt to all work aimed at abolishing the five-category restriction.

Under the current system, fully assembled defense equipment that can be exported is limited to those that fall within the five nonlethal categories: rescue, transport, detection, surveillance and minesweeping.

On Dec. 15, the ruling coalition reached an agreement to revise the implementation guidelines for the Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology and abolish the five-category limit on arms exports, and confirmed that a related proposal would be submitted to the cabinet in February next year, a move that has sparked strong concern and criticism within Japan. ■