— Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani told the United States on Friday that any missile defense program Japan may build would be independent of U.S. plans to build a national defense shield.
Nakatani outlined the policy in a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon.
"If Japan is to own a missile defense system, it should be used to protect Japan's territory and be operated by Japan on its own initiative," Nakatani reportedly said during his one-hour meeting with Rumsfeld.
Nakatani's comments seem to clarify Tokyo's position that the current Japan-U.S. research on a localized theater missile defense system will form no part of Washington's planned national missile defense project. Tokyo is apparently concerned that the incorporation of any Japan-based missile defense system into U.S. President George W. Bush's missile defense initiative would breach Japan's self-imposed ban on the use of the right to collective defense, or the right to help allies under foreign attack.