An LDP-Komeito working group on Wednesday agreed on a proposal to de-facto ease existing regulations on the export of lethal weapons, provided that certain conditions are met.

The group submitted the proposal to the policy councils of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, which will now turn to the government for further clarification on its position on the matter.

“We have made clear that on some aspects of the discussion we have reached a general consensus, while on some others both parties need to discuss further,” Itsunori Onodera, former defense minister and chairman of the group, said during a news conference on Wednesday.

Rooted in the revision of the country’s National Security Strategy — which explicitly mentions the need to promote the transfer of defense equipment — the proposal would allow Japan to export lethal weapons falling under five categories: rescue, transport, surveillance, vigilance and minesweeping. These categories had previously been used to regulate the handover of nonlethal defense equipment.

As some of these activities — namely minesweeping, vigilance and surveillance could hardly be carried out without the deployment of lethal weapons, the group agreed that there was enough room for maneuver in the regulations. In that sense, after the last revision of the three principles on the transfer of defense equipment in 2014, a holistic debate on whether lethal weapons too could be included had yet to be conducted.

While the working group agreed on the necessity of overhauling the current guidelines, a chasm emerged between the advocates of eliminating the five categories altogether and those in favor of adding further classifications.

The Air Self-Defense Force's fighter jets hold a joint military drill with the U.S. fighters over the Sea of Japan. | Joint Staff Office of the Defense Ministry of Japan / via REUTERS
The Air Self-Defense Force's fighter jets hold a joint military drill with the U.S. fighters over the Sea of Japan. | Joint Staff Office of the Defense Ministry of Japan / via REUTERS

On the handover of defense equipment jointly developed with other countries, a majority of the working group concurred that Japan should permit this and be able to export such equipment directly, although the proposal mentions the necessity of having to reach public consensus before making any consequential decisions.

Tokyo has recently embarked on a joint effort with Italy and the United Kingdom to develop next-generation fighter jets, and the sale of the aircraft to another country would be regarded as an opportunity to offset development costs. However, existing regulations stipulate that the exports would need to undergo thorough checks of the equipment’s usage on Tokyo’s side.

In spite of increasing momentum to expand Japan’s role in the Ukraine war, the group hasn’t reached a conclusion on the possibility of providing nonlethal military aid to countries engaged in an ongoing conflict.

Some lawmakers argued that, as long as the export serves "the creation of a desirable security environment for Japan" or "the support to countries subject to threats derived from the use of force or contravention of international law," the transfer should be made possible.

With Japan’s wilting defense industry turning its interest to potential new markets overseas, the proposal also refers to the possibility of allowing the export of single components of defense equipment, as long as “they do not possess the characteristic of a weapon as established by the Law on the Self-Defense Forces.”

With many issues remaining unresolved, further debate on the matter will likely follow in the coming months.

Working-group chairman Itsunori Onodera and deputy chairman Shigeki Sato submit the proposal respectively to the LDP and Komeito policy chiefs in parliament on Wednesday. | Gabriele Ninivaggi
Working-group chairman Itsunori Onodera and deputy chairman Shigeki Sato submit the proposal respectively to the LDP and Komeito policy chiefs in parliament on Wednesday. | Gabriele Ninivaggi