Japan was among the 111 countries that took part in an international conference held in Dublin, Ireland, in May and unanimously adopted a treaty that, in principle, prohibits all signatories from using, developing, producing, stockpiling, retaining or transferring cluster munitions.
That means that the Self-Defense Forces will sooner or later have to discard an estimated ¥27.5 billion worth of such weapons in their possession. While it is natural for peace activists to clamor for abolition of cluster munitions, Japan's government has the responsibility of carefully assessing the extent to which abolition affects national security.
The government has repeatedly asserted that a balance must be maintained between humanitarian problems arising from such weapons and their effectiveness in defending the country. The bottom line is that national security should take precedence over potential hazards to humans. That's why Japan joined Poland and Romania at a meeting in Oslo in February 2007 in casting negative votes on a declaration to ban cluster bombs, which was adopted with the support of 46 other participants.