Abe to visit Asean countries to bolster ties

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to visit the Philippines, Malaysia and other countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in late July after the House of Councillors election, according to informed sources.

By reinforcing ties with Asean countries, Abe will aim to put a brake on China, which has strengthened its maritime activities in the East and South China seas.

He also wants the economic growth of these countries to contribute to Japan’s own growth.

In January, not long after he became prime minister, Abe made his first official visits abroad to Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. In May, Abe visited Myanmar, another member of Asean.

Asean countries have grown wary of China’s increasing maritime might in the region and have proposed a code of conduct in the South China Sea that would be legally binding on China.

During his upcoming trip, Abe plans to confirm with Asean countries the importance of complying with international law.

The Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam all have territorial disputes with China over islands in the South China Sea. Their situations are similar to that of Japan, as China claims the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.

At a summit meeting in the Philippines, Abe plans to offer patrol vessels to the Philippine Coast Guard to help improve its maritime security.

The government may also relax visa requirements for citizens of the Philippines, Malaysia and three other Asean members.

In his meetings with Asean leaders, Abe will explain these plans in the hope that tourists from these countries will increase.

The Jakarta Post

Japan unveils new antisubmarine patrol planes

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) received the first two of a fleet of next generation P-1 antisubmarine patrol aircraft on Tuesday, with the planes scheduled to be deployed at Atsugi Air Base in Kanagawa Prefecture later this month, local media reported.

The official delivery ceremony held earlier in the day in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan, heralds the beginning of the JMSDF's plans to acquire seven of the high-tech planes to be deployed by March 2014 and a total of 70 P-1s in the long-run, officials said.

The P-1s, designed by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. in cooperation with the Defense Ministry, will replace the current over 80 aging P-3 Orion patrol planes used by the JMSDF.

The new planes will undergo two years of operation flight testing, before being fully deployed on patrol duties, officials said.

The P-1 development started in 2001 and planed to finish in March 2012. The process was delayed for one year due to cracks found in its wings and bodies.

Sina English

Japan scrambles fighter jets to intercept China plane

Tokyo: Japan today scrambled fighter jets to head off a Chinese government plane flying towards disputed islands in the East China Sea, the defence ministry said.

It said the Y-12 propeller plane did not enter airspace around the Tokyo-controlled islands known as the Senkakus, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.

The aircraft headed back towards China after Japan's military planes became airborne, defence officials said, declining to give further details.

The incident came as three Chinese government ships sailed into territorial waters around the islands, Japan's coastguard said.

The three marine surveillance ships entered the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone off Uotsuri island shortly after 7:00 am local time, the coastguard said in a statement.

It said the trio left the zone after just over two hours. Today's moves were the latest in a series by Chinese government ships since Tokyo nationalised three islands in the chain last September, reigniting the dispute.

They also came the day Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking about the islands dispute, cited British former premier Margaret Thatcher and her thoughts on a 1982 war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.

NDTV

Japan Eyes Cruise Missiles to Attack N.Korea

Tokyo is eyeing the development of cruise missiles to launch pre-emptive strikes on North Korean missile bases, the Sankei Shimbun reported Wednesday.

The daily said the Japanese government is likely to put a clause paving the way for such missiles into a revised 10-year defense plan at the end of this year.

Takeshi Iwaya, a lawmaker who heads a security committee in the ruling Democratic Liberal Party, told party members Tuesday, “Japan relies on the U.S. for the capability to hit enemy bases. Whether Japan can acquire part of that capability will be a major point in the defense plan.”

Earlier, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the Diet that Japan needs to “consider acquiring the means to hit enemy bases in accordance with the changing international political situation.”

At present, Japan’s pacifist postwar Constitution prohibits it from acquiring pre-emptive attack weapons. In 2004, Tokyo considered developing a cruise missile with a range of 300 km but scrapped the plan due to mounting public concern that they would violate the non-aggression principles.

In 2009, the DLP looked at buying cruise missiles but the plan was shelved when it lost the general election.

But amid a general lurch to the right, Abe recently said striking North Korean missile bases could be considered “self defense” if there are no other ways to deal with such threats.

North Korea is estimated to have 150 to 200 Rodong missiles with a range of 1,300 km. A DLP official told the Sankei Shimbun, “There are concerns that it is not easy to deliver preemptive strikes on specific targets, since North Korea has mobile missiles, but cruise missiles could be used to attack key facilities of the regime.”

Experts say Japan is capable of building a long-range missile any time it wants since it already has a rocket that can put a satellite into orbit.

Missile Threat

Japanese Govt. to resume study on collective self-defense

Feb 3, 2013- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government plans to resume studying whether to recognize Japan's right to exercise collective self-defense.

Abe will reconvene a meeting of experts on Friday. The panel was set up earlier when Abe led his first Cabinet. The panel, chaired by former ambassador to the US Shunji Yanai, had studied the issue of collective defense.

After World War Two, Japan's government ruled out the right of collective defense under the present interpretation of the Constitution.

But Abe says he wants to change the interpretation so that Japan can exercise collective self-defense with certain restrictions.

Last week, the prime minister said during an Upper House plenary session that his government will study suitable responses to the changed security environment.

In 2008, the expert panel proposed in a report that constitutional interpretations should be changed to permit Japan's right to collective self-defense.

The report says collective self-defense should be allowed in such cases as an attack on US naval vessels in a joint operation with Japan on the high seas and intercepting of a ballistic missile heading for the US.

The panel is to submit the 2008 report to Abe at Friday's meeting. Experts are also to study cases in which collective self-defense will be allowed, by taking the new security environment into consideration.

Observers say Abe apparently wants to highlight his efforts to strengthen defense ties with the US ahead of his meeting with President Barack Obama in late February. Resumption of discussions on collective self-defense is one way to illustrate those efforts.

NHK

Japan forces Taiwanese activists to retreat from islands

Jan 24, 2013- Japanese forces used water cannons to repel a ship carrying Taiwanese activists who were headed to a disputed island in the East China Sea on Thursday.

In this photo released by Japan Coast Guard 11th Regional Headquarters, a Japanese Coast Guard patrol boat uses water cannon to warn a Taiwanese leisure boat, left, and a Taiwanese Coast Guard boat off Uotsuri in Japanese and Diaoyu Dao in Chinese, January 24, 2013.

The Japanese Coast Guard says the boat, escorted by four Taiwanese government ships, was turned away about 30 kilometers from the islands, which are controlled by Japan, but also claimed by China and Taiwan.

Taiwan's official Central News Agency says the activists had wanted to reach the islands to install a statue of Matsu, the "goddess of the sea," which they believe will help protect Taiwanese fishermen in the area.

The islands, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, have become a flash-point for small-scale conflicts in recent months, mostly between Japanese and Chinese vessels.

This photo, released by Japan Coast Guard on January 24, 2013, shows a boat carrying Taiwanese activists, cruising in waters near the disputed islands known as Senkaku islands in Japan and Diaoyu islands in China, in the East China Sea.

More recently, both countries have also sent fighter jets to patrol the islands, raising fears of war between Asia's two largest economies.

The uninhabited islands are located in a strategic area of the East China Sea and are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and potentially vast energy deposits.

Taiwan, which refers to the islands as Diaoyutai, has shied away from major confrontations in the dispute,although Japanese government vessels also drove off about 50 Taiwanese boats from the islands in September.

See more details : TAIWAN BOAT LEAVES ISLANDS AFTER JAPAN WATER CANNON DUEL (Yahoo News, Jan 24, 2013)

Japan launching spy satellite to monitor North Korea

Jan 23, 2013- Japan is to launch a new spy satellite on Sunday to strengthen its monitoring capabilities amid concern that North Korea may carry out more missile and nuclear tests.

A rocket carrying a radar-equipped satellite is scheduled to blast off from a space centre at Tanegashima in the southwest, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has announced.

The space agency said the satellite would be used for information-gathering, including data following Japan's 2011 quake and tsunami, but did not mention North Korea by name.

The launch, planned for Sunday between 1:00 and 3:00 pm (0400-0600 GMT) comes after Pyongyang rejected dialogue on its atomic programme following tightened UN sanctions for a banned rocket launch.

The North's foreign ministry responded angrily to the UN Security Council action, saying there would be "no dialogue to discuss denuclearisation" and hinting that a new atomic test could be planned.

Japan hopes the satellite launch will enable it to complete a system first devised in the early 1990s as a response to fears about North Korea.

From an altitude of several hundred kilometres, the satellite will be able to detect objects on the ground as small as a square metre, including at night and through cloud cover, thanks to its radar.

Tokyo has four operational satellites in space, of which just one is equipped with radar. It has used satellites for monitoring and information-gathering since the late 1990s.

Last year Pyongyang launched two long-range rockets. The first failed but the second in December flew over the southern Okinawa island chain, jangling nerves in Japan.

North Korea insists its December 12 rocket launch was a peaceful, scientific mission aimed at putting a satellite in space. The UN condemned it as a disguised ballistic missile test.

By Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Jan 23, 2013

Japan defends right to fire warning shots as territory dispute with China heats up

Jan 20, 2013- TOKYO – Japan says it may fire warning shots and take other measures to keep foreign aircraft from violating its airspace in the latest verbal blast between Tokyo and Beijing that raises concerns that a dispute over hotly contested islands could spin out of control.

Japan rights to warning shot on Chinese planes

Japanese officials made the comments after Chinese fighters tailed its warplanes near the islands recently. The incident is believed to be the first scrambling of Chinese fighters since the tensions began to rise last spring.

According to Chinese media, a pair of J-10 fighters was scrambled after Japanese F-15s began tailing a Chinese surveillance plane near the disputed islands in the East China Sea. China has complained the surveillance flight did not violate Japanese airspace and the F-15s were harassing it.

Foxnews

Abe to beef up Japan's defense dealing with China

Jan 8, 2013- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to create new guidelines for Japan's defense program this year.

Japan Coast Guard F-15

He is expected to scrap the mid-term defense buildup program under the current guidelines endorsed by the former government in December 2010.

The Defense Ministry will submit a request to increase the defense budget by more than 100 billion yen, or about 1.14 billion dollars, for fiscal 2013.

Some of the money will be used to increase surveillance of the Senkaku Islands and the surrounding waters in the East China Sea. Chinese government ships have repeatedly intruded into the waters.

The Abe cabinet is also expected to increase the number of SDF personnel and purchase new equipment.