Protesters gathered in Tokyo on Friday to rally against Japan’s decision to ease decades-old arms export curbs, which critics argue erode the country’s post-war pacifist tradition. The new rules permitting the sale of lethal weapons overseas signal a major shift, as Japan ramps up its defence ambitions and seeks to enter the global arms market in part to boost economic growth. The move, announced this week on Tuesday by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government, has been met with some criticism...
This clears the way for Japan to sell weapons to more than a dozen countries.
Japan could soon sell weapons overseas, including fighter jets, in a shift from its decades-old pacifist policy.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pursuing the first ever revision of her country’s post-World War II pacifist constitution, a step that observers say is likely to be welcomed in Washington and condemned in Beijing. Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured a historic two-thirds majority in the National Diet’s lower house in February’s election, passing the threshold needed to pass constitutional amendments without other parties’ support. “An independent constitutional amendment...