JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 07/12/06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TOKYO 003879

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SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 07/12/06
Part-2
Index:
11) US media focusing on Japan possibly seeking preemptive strike
capability


12) Minshuto President Ozawa: Japan cannot opt for preemptive strike
capability


13) SDF extended on Golan Heights to next March for PKO

14) Government next year to introduce nationwide warning system
using satellites to respond to missile attacks, earthquakes

15) Chitose, Komatsu cities accept US military training in Hokkaido


16) Third lawsuit over aircraft noise at Atsugi seeks government
compensation of 13.1 billion yen

17) Japanese cabinet members will visit 20 countries altogether as
part of diplomatic strategy effort

18) Taiwanese opposition party leader Ma meets former Prime Minister
Mori

19) Government observers to monitor Congo election

20) New post-Koizumi administration to launch on Sept. 29, with
extra Diet session running through December

21) Election-hungry Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) has lined
up 240,000 party supporters thanks to Ozawa factor

Contents:
11) US media introduces preemptive-strike argument

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Excerpts)
July 12, 2006

By Hiroshi Maruya in Washington, DC

There is growing interest in the United States regarding the remark
by Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, as the Japanese government's
spokesperson, on the argument for Japan possessing a capability to
strike enemy bases. The US media has taken the remark as calling for
a "preemptive strike" capability and so introduced the argument.
Senior government officials have been besieged with questions from
reporters.

White House spokesperson Snow pointed out: "Chief Cabinet Secretary
Abe, I believe, made a statement that (in the case of a preemptive
strike,) constitutional amendment would have to be sought, and that
Japan was not thinking of going outside the framework of the
Constitution." The State Department spokesperson also stressed
regarding Abe's statement: "We are taking it as an expression of his
thinking that no option is being ruled out."

In the US, since the Taepodong-2 missile launched by North Korea has
the capability of striking the US mainland, the media has constantly
reported the moves of the United Nations and Japan. In the news
programs, some experts even referred to the possibility of Japan
arming itself with nuclear weapons.

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SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 07/12/06
Part-2
Index:
11) US media focusing on Japan possibly seeking preemptive strike
capability


12) "It is not possible to launch preemptive attacks," says Minshuto
chief Ozawa; JCP, SDP also critical of the idea

MAINICHI (Page 5) (Full)
July 12, 2006

Commenting on the possibility of Japan launching preemptive strikes
on enemy bases, an idea that cropped up among government officials
following the recent launches of ballistic missiles by North Korea,
Ichiro Ozawa, chief of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ =
Minshuto) during yesterday's news conference indicated a negative,
noting: "Japan can exercise the right of self-defense if it comes
under military attack, but it is not possible to strike the enemy
first when it has not yet launched attacks on Japan."

He also blasted Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and Defense
Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga, who floated the preemptive
attack argument, saying: "It is not good to voice an incoherent
view. How can the enemy be determined? According to such an
argument, once the enemy is identified, the fight must begin. Those
who are in key positions must fully take the entire nation into
consideration before making statements."

Mizuho Fukushima, chief of the Social Democratic Party (SDP),also
told reporters in the Diet Building, "The launch of preemptive
attacks could lead to war." Japanese Communist Party (JCP) General
Secretary Tadayoshi Ichita told a news conference on the 10th, "Such

SIPDIS
an idea will spark an endless arms race."

13) SDF mission in Golan Heights to be extended through next March

YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full)
July 12, 2006

The government decided yesterday in a cabinet meeting to extend by
six months through next March the term of the mission of
Self-Defense Forces participating in the United Nations
Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights. The SDF
mission has been deployed to the Golan Heights based on Japan's UN
Peacekeeping (PKO) Cooperation Law. The term of the SDF mission
expires on Sept. 30.

14) Nationwide warning system to be introduced next year against
missiles

MAINICHI (Page 1) (Abridged)
July 12, 2006

The government decided yesterday to introduce a nationwide warning
system (J-ALERT) next year. J-ALERT will use a communication
satellite and will automatically announce emergency information to
all local communities in Japan over the disaster radio about
earthquakes, missile launches, and other eventualities. When North
Korea fired missiles on July 5, the government took time for
communication, so some local governments were dissatisfied. The Fire
Defense Agency (FDA) plans to earmark approximately 200 million yen
in its budgetary estimate for next fiscal year.

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SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 07/12/06
Part-2
Index:
11) US media focusing on Japan possibly seeking preemptive strike
capability


Each municipality currently receives government information faxed or
by other means, and its employees air an alarm using the community
wireless system. On July 5, North Korea fired the first missile at
3:30 a.m. The Cabinet Secretariat faxed this information to
prefectural governments at 6:30 a.m. and confirmed the faxed
information with them at around 7:30 a.m.

The new system, which will use satellites, will make it possible to
automate communication immediately. FDA tested the new system with
31 local governments from January through March this year. The test
took 6-25 seconds from FDA's information dispatch through local
radio announcements.

In March this year, an expert panel released a report recommending a
new community wireless system. The new system will be used for
disaster prevention and national security limited to 13 emergency
cases, such as major tsunamis, emergency volcanic information,
emergency earthquake information, ballistic missiles, and major
terrorist attacks. In the case of a ballistic missile attack, each
local community's loud speakers will warn of possible missile
landing and will then tell its residents to evacuate or turn on the
television and radio.

15) 2 cities accept US military aircraft training

TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full)
July 12, 2006

Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga yesterday met with
Mayor Tohru Nishimura from the city of Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture,
and Mayor Kotaro Yamaguchi from the city of Chitose, Hokkaido, at
the agency. In their meetings with the defense chief, the two mayors
clarified that they would accept fighter jet training from the US
Air Force's Kadena base in Okinawa Prefecture to the Air
Self-Defense Force's Komatsu and Chitose bases. In response, Nukaga
expressed his gratitude to the mayors while noting the importance of
local understanding and vowing to make all-out efforts for safety,
noise, and local development.

16) Court ruling tomorrow on US base noise; Future damage
recognition in focus

ASAHI (Page 37) (Abridged)
July 12, 2006

The Tokyo High Court will hand down its ruling tomorrow on a third
lawsuit over noise damage caused by the US Navy's Atsugi base, which
is located in the cities of Yamato and Ayase, Kanagawa Prefecture,
and which is used also by the Maritime Self-Defense Force. The
lawsuit has been instituted by 4,865 local residents in a class
action against the government that seeks compensation totaling
approximately 13.1 billion yen.

Yamato City's Nishitsuruma Elementary School is situated about two
kilometers north of the Atsugi base, and the school is right under
the flight path of US military and MSDF aircraft to and from the
base. Children playing soccer or dodgeball on the schoolyard freeze

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SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 07/12/06
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Index:
11) US media focusing on Japan possibly seeking preemptive strike
capability

every time a US military fighter jet roars across right over the
school grounds, thundering through the air.

The school's classroom windows, double-paned for soundproofing with
government subsidies, are left open in summer. Classes stop when
jets roar overhead. "I sometimes cannot finish everything I plan to
teach in a class," a 46-year-old teacher said. This teacher was
worried about children's concentration.

Teachers transferred to the school from other cities are surprised
at Yamato's children speaking so loudly. They are in the habit of
speaking aloud above the roars of fighter jets.

In May, Japan and the United States finalized a report on the
realignment of US forces in Japan, incorporating an agreement to
redeploy 59 carrier-borne fighter jets from Atsugi to Iwakuni base
in Yamaguchi Prefecture. However, the teacher said, "People over
there will also feel the same, so I don't know what to say."

The USS Midway, a US Navy aircraft carrier, was based at Yokosuka
for over 30 years. Since then, more than one million local residents
living in the vicinity of the Atsugi base have suffered from noise.

Capt. Justin Cooper, 45, who commands the US Atsugi Naval Air
Station, is a veteran pilot with a flying time of over 3,000 hours,
responded to an interview yesterday prior to the court ruling. "It's
true that the base is located in a very densely populated area," the
commanding officer said. "We probably have the most difficult flight
hours and altitude restrictions not only in Japan but also in the
States," the commander added. He noted the importance of a balance
between the US military's core missions for the Japan-US alliance
and friendship with local communities. "We must address the noise
problem in a sincere manner," he said.

On the third class action's plaintiff are 4,865 persons in various
generations and occupations, aged from 8 to 101.

17) Strategic diplomacy to seek permanent seat on UNSC; Cabinet
ministers to branch out to visit 20 nations for canvassing

MAINICHI (Page 5) (Excerpts)
July 12, 2006

The government yesterday started strategic diplomacy, under which it
will selectively dispatch ministers to countries that are unfamiliar
to Japan during the summer when the Diet is in recess. For a start,
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Kenji
Kosaka will leave for Uganda. State Minister for Administrative
Reform Koki Chuma will visit Estonia and Latvia.

The strategic diplomacy is an idea proposed by Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi. Japan aimed to secure a permanent seat on the
United Nation's Security Council (UNSC) during last year's USN
Assembly. However, its effort did not come to fruition, because it
had trouble with coordinating the views of African nations, with
which Japan has few ties. Soul-searching that experience, Koizumi
visited Ethiopia and Ghana this April and May for the first time as
prime minister. After returning home, he ordered cabinet ministers

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SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 07/12/06
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11) US media focusing on Japan possibly seeking preemptive strike
capability

to divide up and each visit assigned countries.

In the past, each government agency decided on countries its
minister visits in the summer. As a result, ministerial visits had
been concentrated on popular European countries, the US and major
Asian nations, indicating a strong nature of their foreign visits
being just "trips."

18) Taiwan's Nationalist Party Chairman Ma meets with former Prime
Minister Mori

YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full)
July 12, 2006

Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party Chairman Ma Ying-jeou,
who is also the mayor of Taipei, met yesterday in Tokyo with former
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, and they exchanged views on the North
Korean missile issue, China-Taiwan relations, and exchanges of young
lawmakers from Mori's Liberal Democratic Party and Ma's Nationalist
Party.

19) Government to send election monitoring team to Congo

YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full)
July 12, 2006

The government decided in a cabinet meeting yesterday to send an
election monitoring team to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
based on its UN Peacekeeping Cooperation Law in order to support
Congo's presidential and parliamentary elections, which will be
conducted on July 30. The eight-member team comprising Foreign
Ministry personnel and private-sector persons will go to polling
stations.

20) Government, LDP under coordination to launch next government on
Sept. 29; Extra Diet session to run until December

MAINICHI (Page 2) (Excerpts)
July 12, 006

The government and ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) began
yesterday to consider convening on Sept. 29 an extraordinary Diet
session, in which the new prime minister, a successor to Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi, is elected, and there launch a new
government. They will coordinate a plan to run the extra session for
73 days until Dec. 10.

The LDP will hold its presidential election on Sept. 20. The
presidential election of the main opposition party Minshuto
(Democratic Party of Japan) will take place on Sept. 25. The New
Komeito will open its convention on Sept. 30. Given that the three
parties will form new leadership lineups. The government and LDP
have been determined that the new prime minister will be able to
select the three top LDP executives and cabinet members after
ascertaining Minshuto's new leadership lineup, and that New Komeito
will be able to pick its new executives after its member is selected
as a cabinet minister.


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SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 07/12/06
Part-2
Index:
11) US media focusing on Japan possibly seeking preemptive strike
capability

The government and the LDP plan: The Diet's vote for the prime
minister would be take place at the plenary sessions of both Diet
houses after the Koizumi Cabinet resigns en masse on the morning of
Sept. 29; and the new prime minister would conclude the selection of
the three LDP officers and cabinet members on that day. They,
however, are considering moving up the selection of the three LDP
executives. The idea also is surfacing in the government and the LDP
that the new prime minister would deliver a policy speech on Oct. 2
and carry out question-and-answer session at the two chambers of the
Diet on Oct. 4-6.

The government and ruling LDP aim to pass a set of bills to revise
the Basic Education Law and a bill to amend the organized crime law
that would make "conspiracy" a crime through the Diet during the
next extraordinary session. Those bills will be carried over to the
next session.

21) More than 240,000 voters registered as Minshuto's rank-and-file
members and supporters

YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full)
July 12, 2006

The main opposition party Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan)
announced yesterday that the number of registered rank-and-file
members and supporters reached a record 244,482, surpassing by about
90,000 the number of last year. The party closed registration at the
end of May.

A total of 19,812 voters - 10 times last year's figure and the
largest number across the nation's prefectures - registered in Iwate
Prefecture, where party head Ichiro Ozawa comes from. An "Ozawa
effect" was seen in Minshuto's collecting rank-and-file members and
supporters.

The registered rank-and-file members and supporters have the right
to vote in the Sept. 25 presidential election. The number of
rank-and-file members, who are allowed to participate in party
management for an annual fee of 6,000 yen, increased to 39,705, up
2.6 PERCENT from last year. The number of supporters, who are
required to pay 2,000 yen annually, substantially increased by 74.5
PERCENT to 202,683.

SCHIEFFER