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Japan's
Defense Agency, voicing "grave concern" about North
Korea's recent missile tests, has called for the quick
implementation of a controversial plan to realign US
military bases.
In an annual white paper meant to
provide guidelines to policymakers, the Defense Agency
also renewed warnings over neighboring China's mushrooming
military spending.
Japan in May approved the most
sweeping shift of US troops since they were stationed here
following World War II, in a bid to deal with 21st-century
threats.
 But
the plan has been controversial, particularly in the
southern island chain of Okinawa which hosts more than
half the US forces in Japan. Tokyo says 8,000 US troops
will leave Okinawa under the plan, but local leaders had
pushed for more.
"The quick and complete
implementation of the plans for realignment of US troops
in Japan... is inevitable for the peace and stability of
the Asia-Pacific region," Defense Agency Chief Fukushiro
Nukaga said in a preface to the white paper.
"We will realize the plans whatever
the cost," he said.
Nukaga said the Defense Agency
"will keep taking all possible measures" to prepare
against communist North Korea, which on July 5 test-fired
seven missiles in Japan's direction.
"North Korea's ballistic missile
launches despite prior warnings by other countries
including Japan are of grave concern to our country's
security and to the peace and stability of the
international community," he said.
But the white paper said that North
Korean missiles were not yet accurate.
"Detailed information on its
performance has not been confirmed, but its accuracy is
not estimated to be at such a high level that it can
pinpoint a specific facility, as it is presumably based on
Scud technology," it said of the North's Rodong missile.
The missile tests led top Japanese
officials to call for debate on whether the officially
pacifist country should be able to carry out a
hypothetical pre-emptive strike on the communist state.
The comments triggered outrage in
neighboring countries which remain haunted by Japan's
aggression in the early 20th century and uneasy about its
moves to take a greater military role.
The white paper also indirectly
criticized China, saying its military budget could outpace
Japan's by 2008 if its spending grows at the estimated
current rate of 15 percent a year.
"It is necessary to carefully look
at whether the purpose of China's military modernization
is above the range required for its defense," the white
paper said.
It called for officially pacifist
Japan -- which euphemistically calls its military the
Self-Defense Forces -- to take a more active role
overseas.
"The role of self-defense is not
limited to taking measures against serious attacks to our
country but is expanding to measures against terrorism and
other various emergency circumstances, peacekeeping
operations under the
United Nations, reconstruction
assistance and disaster relief activities, among others,"
it said.
Japan last week officially wound up
a reconstruction mission to
Iraq, its first deployment since
World War II to a country where fighting is underway.
Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi favors turning the Defense
Agency into a full-fledged Defense Ministry and revising
the 1947 US-imposed constitution, which bans Japan from
using force or even having troops.
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