Highlights
– New law allows Japan to launch its own satellites for spying and warn of potential missile launches
– Japan’s militarization of space will likely enhance cooperation with the United States regarding missile defense
On May 21, 2008, Japan passed a law allowing the use of space for military purposes, effectively ending its decades-old pacifist policy. The law was approved by parliament’s opposition-controlled upper house, a sign of rare consensus in Japan’s heavily divided political arena.
The law will allow the military to launch its own satellites for spying and warn of potential missile launches from neighboring countries. However, the Japanese government has ruled out the use or deployment of offensive weapons in space, an issue that remains very sensitive in the region.
The officially sanctioned use of space for military purposes builds on the country’s longstanding civil space program, which peace activists have accused includes military elements. Conversely, many of those working in Japan’s space industry have long complained that the separation of space development from the military since 1969 hampers technological progress in the sector.
Japan’s business and industrial communities were largely in support of the bill, as the country’s powerful business lobby Keidanren was seen influential in the passing of the new law. The business lobby is also pushing for a relaxation of the country’s ban on arms exports to further benefit Japan’s defense industry in competing on a global scale.
Controversial Move
Japan’s new space law will effectively give substantial new powers to the Ministry of Defense (MoD), a highly controversial branch of the bureaucracy that has only had full ministry status since last year. The legislation mandates the creation of a new cabinet level post to oversee the country’s space security.
The extension of the MoD’s powers and the general expansion of military programs tend to be viewed with suspicion by Japanese civilians, who largely support the war-renouncing Article 9 of their constitution. While the country’s pacifist constitution prohibits maintaining a military, it is largely interpreted to permit armed forces for the express purposes of self-defense.
Regional Threats
Japan has long held concerns about China’s space and military programs, as well as North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities.
In January 2007, China shocked and alarmed the world by using a missile to shoot down one of its own disused satellites, demonstrating some of its advanced space and military hardware. Japan remains wary of China’s growing military might, as the country’s bloated military budget is seen as one of the primary reasons Japanese politicians agreed to overturn the ban on the militarization of space.
Another primary motivator by Japan to seek military space programs is the growing military threat posed by North Korea. Japan was shocked when North Korea fired a Taepodong ballistic missile right over the country in 1998. The country also failed to detect the moment of launch of North Korea’s Taepodong-2 ballistic missile in 2006, depicting Japan’s severe vulnerabilities in early warning missile detection and defense.
While Tokyo presently employs spy satellites deployed to keep an eye on North Korea, they are aging and provide poor resolution. The new law enables Japan to launch high-performance intelligence satellites and even co-develop military satellites for defense purposes with the United States (US), greatly enhancing Japan’s ability to monitor both North Korea’s missile capabilities and China’s military build-up.
Future Cooperation with the United States
The US has urged Japan to boost defense spending at a time when Tokyo’s Asian neighbors are expanding their military budgets. Japan’s MoD expects a budget of US$46 billion this fiscal year through March 2009, down 0.8 percent from the previous year. The US government has welcomed the new law allowing the military’s use of space, as Washington wants the Japanese government to field some of the cost for a regional missile defense system.
In the current state of affairs, Japan’s ability to detect a missile launch from North Korea or monitor China’s rapid military build-up is severely limited or non-existent. An early-warning satellite detecting the firing of a ballistic missile is indispensable to a missile defense system. As a deterrent against North Korea’s vast ballistic missile arsenal, Japan decided to adopt a US missile defense system in 2003. It currently uses sea-based Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor missile deployed on Aegis-equipped destroyers and ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptor missile system. By 2010, Japan plans to deploy 36 SM-3 missiles and 124 PAC-3 missiles, but this will remain inadequate against North Korea’s 200 Rodong-I missiles, which have a range of 620 miles and can hit any target in Japan.
By enacting a law allowing the military use of space, cooperation between the US and Japan regarding missile defense is likely to be greatly enhanced. Increasing regional threats from Japan’s neighbors has prompted the Asian country to not only amend its pacifist constitution, but look to the US for further military aid to protect its sovereignty and monitor an increasingly militarized region.