DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 12/10/07-2

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TOKYO 005502 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA; WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION; TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR; CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 12/10/07-2 Index: (12) Yomiuri-Gallup poll: 76 PERCENT of Americans think N. Korea should remain on terror list until abductions issue is resolved (Yomiuri) (13) LDP, New Komeito to agree on re-adoption of new antiterrorism legislation; Fukuda-Ota talks at beginning of week; Momentum gathering for extending Diet session until mid-January (Mainichi) (14) DPJ's Kitazawa indicates new antiterrorism legislation to be brought to a vote, possibly to apply pressure on ruling camp (Sankei) (15) Total of 21 bills expected to clear divided Diet (Mainichi) (16) China rewrites official communiqu worked out at Japan-China economic dialogue (Asahi) (17) Establishment of Japan-US Security Strategy Council aimed at pursuing profits for defense industries (Akahata) (18) Japan's stealth aircraft to make 1st test flight in 2011 (Yomiuri) ARTICLES: (12) Yomiuri-Gallup poll: 76 PERCENT of Americans think N. Korea should remain on terror list until abductions issue is resolved YOMIURI (Page 1) (Full) December 8, 2007 The Yomiuri Shimbun conducted a telephone-based joint public opinion survey with the Gallup Organization, a U.S. pollster, on Nov. 15-18 in Japan and Nov. 9-18 in the United States. In the survey, Japanese and American respondents were asked if they thought it would be better to keep North Korea on the U.S. government's list of terror sponsors until the incident of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea is resolved. In response to this question, a total of 75 PERCENT in Japan and 76 PERCENT in the United States answered "yes" or "yes to a certain degree," with "no" at 15 PERCENT both in Japan and in the United States. As seen from these figures, three-quarters of respondents in both countries think resolving the abduction issue is one of the conditions for delisting North Korea as a terror sponsor. Respondents were also asked if they thought North Korea would actually abandon its nuclear weapons and nuclear development programs as a result of the six-party talks. To this question, those who answered "yes" totaled only 27 PERCENT in Japan and 22 PERCENT in the United States. Those who answered "no" totaled 59 PERCENT in Japan and 72 PERCENT in the United States. Particularly, the proportion of pessimistic views overwhelmed that of optimistic ones in the United States. In the survey, respondents were further asked to pick one or more tasks which they thought the Japanese and U.S. governments should tackle on a priority basis in cooperation with each other over North Korea. In response, those who think the two countries should work together to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons accounted for 93 PERCENT in Japan and 84 PERCENT in the United TOKYO 00005502 002 OF 007 States, and the proportion of those who think the two countries should stop North Korea from developing and launching missiles was 89 PERCENT in Japan and 82 PERCENT in the United States. In Japan, the proportion of those who picked the abduction issue were 87 PERCENT . In the United States, those who chose diplomatic normalization with North Korea accounted for 73 PERCENT . In the United States, the abduction issue ranked fourth at 61 PERCENT . In Japan, diplomatic normalization ranked fifth at 45 PERCENT . (13) LDP, New Komeito to agree on re-adoption of new antiterrorism legislation; Fukuda-Ota talks at beginning of week; Momentum gathering for extending Diet session until mid-January MAINICHI (Page 1) (Full) December 9, 2007 Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (who is also LDP president) will hold talks early next week with New Komeito Representative Akihiro Ota to discuss a response to the current extraordinary Diet session due to end on Dec. 15. With the aim of enacting the new antiterrorism legislation in the current Diet session, they are expected to confirm a policy course of re-extending the session so that even if the bill is voted down in the House of Councillors, they can override it with a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives. They plan to determine the length of extension by watching the actions by the major opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto). Calls are growing in the government and ruling parties to extend the session by one month until mid-January. LDP Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Tadamori Oshima appearing on a TBS-TV talk show yesterday indicated his party's intention to readopt the legislation in the Lower House, saying: "There is a good chance of making a decision under the rules of the Constitution and the Diet Law." Alarmed at the developments of the bribery case involving former Administrative Vice-Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya, some in the ruling camp were initially negative about re-extending the Diet session. But the prime minister has defined the antiterrorism legislation as a top priority. The New Komeito has also softened its stance, with Representative Ota saying: "Members have come to understand the need for it to a certain extent." Envisaging use of the constitutional provision allowing the Lower House to conclude the Upper House's failure to take final action within 60 days after receipt of a bill to be a rejection of the bill, calls are growing for extending the session until around Jan. ¶15. Concerned about possible political tensions resulting from the postponement of handling of the bill to next year, some are looking for ways to extend the session only until around Dec. 25. They are in accord, however, to have the DPJ's assurance to bring the bill to a vote in the Upper House before the end of the year. Earlier, Chairman Toshimi Kitazawa (of the DPJ) of the Upper House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, now discussing the antiterrorism bill, alluded to the possibility of taking a vote in late December, but they all think a clear assurance is necessary. In the wake of President Ichiro Ozawa's return home from China, the DPJ, which is opposed to the legislation, is scheduled to discuss TOKYO 00005502 003 OF 007 its response shortly. The view is gaining ground in the party that the Upper House should not postpone voting down the legislation until next year. In the event the bill is readopted in the Lower House, the focus of attention would be shifted to whether or not the opposition camp would submit a censure motion in the Upper House against the prime minister. (14) DPJ's Kitazawa indicates new antiterrorism legislation to be brought to a vote, possibly to apply pressure on ruling camp SANKEI (Page 5) (Full) December 8, 2007 Chairman Toshimi Kitazawa (Democratic Party of Japan) of the House of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which is discussing the new antiterrorism bill, told reporters in the Diet building yesterday: "The bill is before us, and this committee intends to take a vote on it. Deliberation time would be approximately 41 hours on a par with the House of Representatives." The committee has already discussed the bill for 11 hours and 20 minutes. Kitazawa's comment alluded to the possibility of taking a vote before the end of the year. The committee meets twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays). In order for the committee to discuss the legislation for 41 hours, as was done by the Lower House Committee on Prevention of Terrorism, the Diet session must be extended for a dozen or so days. The Upper House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has yet to settle the 11 DPJ demands, including sworn and unsworn Diet testimony over improprieties involving the Defense Ministry. DPJ Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Kenji Yamaoka told the press corps in Beijing yesterday: "I have confirmed with him (Kitazawa). His comment is based on the assumption that our demands are realized. At this point in time, things are not going in that direction (taking a vote before year's end )." Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama, too, commented at a press SIPDIS conference: "I think (Kitazawa) eyes preventing the Lower House from taking an override vote (based on the constitutional 60-day rule), for such would be suicidal for the Upper House." President Ichiro Ozawa also said in a press conference in Beijing: "Our party has yet to make a final decision. We will do so at the beginning of next week or later." "Kitazawa made that statement to throw the ruling camp into confusion," a DPJ member noted. (15) Total of 21 bills expected to clear divided Diet MAINICHI (Page 2) (Abridged) December 9, 2007 The ruling and opposition camps have steadily enacted bills, mostly livelihood-oriented ones, despite their fierce battle over the new antiterrorism bill. As of Dec. 8, of the 10-government sponsored bills presented to the current Diet session, nine, excluding the antiterrorism bill, were unanimously enacted. When prospective bills are counted, a total of 21 bills -- only a few short of 25 bills enacted in the extraordinary Diet session last fall -- are likely to clear the current session of the Diet. Given the split Diet, the TOKYO 00005502 004 OF 007 government and ruling camp abstained from presenting controversial bills. The number also reflects the opposition camp's unexpectedly flexible and cooperative stance so as not to draw public criticism. Thus far, a total of 12 government-sponsored bills, including those carried over from the previous session, have passed the Diet. Included in them is a bill to revise the Minimum Wage Law to raise the minimum wage out of consideration for public criticism of income disparities. Additionally, a bill to amend the Broadcast Law in compliance with the opposition camp's demand is certain to win Diet approval. Four lawmaker-initiated bills have also cleared the Diet, including one to revise the Law to Support the Rebuilding of Lives of Disaster Victims. They are specifically designed to provide assistance to victims of disasters, such as earthquakes. Agreements have also been reached between the ruling parties and the DPJ to enact four bills, including a prospective bill to revise the Political Funds Control Law. In the wake of the ruling coalition's devastating setback in the July Upper House election, the government and the ruling camp feared that the opposition camp's fierce resistance would block the majority of bills from clearing the Diet. Such anxiety has now essentially vanished. The reason is mostly because the government and ruling parties avoided presenting contentious bills in the first place, with the new antiterrorism legislation being the only exception. Of the government-presented bills that cleared the Diet, four are designed to raise the salaries of civil servants in compliance with recommendations of the National Personnel Authority. The DPJ had no other option but to cooperate in enacting them so as not to cause trouble for civil servants and draw fire from them. The ruling parties and the DPJ submitted similar bills to the lower and upper chambers, respectively, like the one to revise the Law to Support the Rebuilding of Lives of Disaster Victims. The system of the two sides meeting halfway for the sake of enacting bills has begun taking root. (16) China rewrites official communiqu worked out at Japan-China economic dialogue ASAHI (Page 1) (Full) December 9, 2007 Nobuyoshi Sakajiri, Beijing It has been learned that the Chinese government unilaterally rewrote the press communiqu worked out at the Japan-China high-level economic dialogue in Beijing on Dec. 1 and announced the corrected version. In protest against this move, the Japanese government has urged China through diplomatic channels to correct the rewritten document. China deleted such parts as referring to Japan's expectations for China's efforts to raise the exchange rate of the Chinese currency yuan. Japan is looking into drawing up and releasing its own press communiqu in Chinese. With the planned visit to China by Prime Minister Fukuda near at hand, this issue could trigger a new dispute between Japan and China depending on what action China takes next. TOKYO 00005502 005 OF 007 It is quite unprecedented for a nation to unilaterally alter the contents of an agreed press communiqu and announce it. The economic dialogue brought together six Japanese cabinet ministers and the Chinese vice premier and seven cabinet ministers at the Great People's Hall in Beijing to comprehensively discuss economic issues. When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met on Dec. 2 with five Japanese cabinet ministers, the premier hailed the positive results produced in the dialogue, saying: "It was a great success." In response, Foreign Minister Koumura said: "It was successful that both sides were able to issue a joint communiqu." According to several sources familiar with relations between Japan and China, working-level officers from the two countries formed the communiqu while promoting dialogue, and relevant cabinet ministers approved expressions in each sector. The Japanese government released the full text of its Japanese-language version to reporters in Beijing on the night of Dec. 1. On the Chinese side, the Xinhua News Agency reported the Chinese-language communiqu on the 3rd, and it was also carried in the People's Daily dated Dec. 4 and on the website of the Chinese Commerce Ministry. However, the communiqu announced in China does not include parts expressing Japan's expectations for China's efforts to hike the exchange rate of the yuan and pointing out the significance of China's participation in the Energy Charter Treaty, both of which were in the original. The United States and Europe, saddled with huge trade deficits with China, have criticized the current exchange rate of the yuan, claiming that the rate has been kept low through the People's Bank of China's market intervention. The Energy Charter Treaty sets international rules for liberalized trade and investment protection in the energy sector, but China has yet to sign the treaty and remains an observer. The parts that China deliberately deleted are clauses in which Japan urges China's efforts. A Japanese government official said: "The Chinese government was negative about forming the communiqu itself. China was supposedly unwilling to specify what it does not want to hear." Japanese officials have fiercely reacted to China's unilateral move, with one official complaining: "The alternation without notice will erode the trust between the two countries;" and another claiming: "That is a reckless act that should not be done diplomatically." As a countermeasure, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing reportedly is looking into translating the Japanese-language version into Chinese and posting that on its website. A source familiar with Japan-China relations said: "The Chinese Communist Party's leadership must have made the request," but it is uncertain why the Chinese side changed the wording. As of the night of Dec. 8, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's press office has made no reply to an inquiry by the Asahi Shimbun. (17) Establishment of Japan-US Security Strategy Council aimed at pursuing profits for defense industries AKAHATA (Page 1) (Full) December 9, 2007 TOKYO 00005502 006 OF 007 Meetings of the Japan-United States Security Strategy Council are held by the Congressional National Security Research Group -- chaired by former Defense Agency Director General Tsutomu Kawara and composed of lawmakers representing defense interests from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP),the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), and the New Komeito. The establishment of the Japan-US committee was aimed from the beginning at strengthening the basis of the Japanese and US military industries and promoting trade in weapons, according to a document of its preparatory committee released yesterday. The document, with the seal of "strict secrecy," was compiled in 2002 by Naoki Akiyama, chief of secretariat at the said congressional group, who reportedly is holding the key to the investigation of a scandal involving military interests. The document says that the purpose of the establishment of the Japan-US security panel was to promote multilaterally studying security problems between Japan and the US (related to policy and military technologies). The panel's mandate is specified as "strengthening the basis of Japanese and US national defense industries and future options for defense technology cooperation (including the transfer of technology and the purchase of weapons)." This reveals that the establishment of the panel was designed to promote both Japanese and US military industries' profits. The document notes: "In order to maintain the management of the panel, we will obtain cooperation from (about 25) private firms supportive of our efforts to map out our nation's sound security policy," showing that the new panel, since its establishment, has been greatly dependent on financial aid from the military industry. The document also indicated that a Mitsubishi Corp. executive served as coordinator in the defense industry, saying: "Mitsubishi Corp. executive Sato has served as liaison among Japanese private firms." Mitsubishi has received orders worth 53.9 billion yen in total (FY2001 - FY2006) from the Defense Ministry (the Defense Agency), one of the largest defense contractors in the nation. In the preparatory committee set up in November 2001, three former Defense Agency director generals served as representative members. The three were Kawara, Fumio Kyuma, and Fukushiro Nukaga. The idea was that the panel would include such key persons among its members as former Defense Secretary Cohen, Boeing Vice President Stanley Roth, and others from the U.S. The name of James Auer, former director of the Japan Desk at the Department of Defense, is also found on the list. (18) Japan's stealth aircraft to make 1st test flight in 2011 YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) December 9, 2007 The Defense Ministry yesterday revealed a plan to develop a prototype aircraft with advanced technologies for the purpose of verifying stealth and other state-of-the-art technologies for a new fighter plane model. The plan will start next fiscal year, with the prototype scheduled to make its first test flight in FY2011. If the plan gets well underway, the Defense Ministry would like to lead it to Japan's development its own fighter jet model. TOKYO 00005502 007 OF 007 The prototype has an overall length of 14 meters and an overall width of 9 meters. The newly planned fighter plane is named "Shinshin." It is a stealth aircraft that can hardly be picked up by enemy radar. Another feature of the Shinshin is its high mobility using an engine developed by Japan. The Shinshin will also adopt other advanced technologies, such as radar called "smart skin." The new aircraft is a prototype, so it will not be loaded with weapons. The Defense Ministry plans to develop the Shinshin over a period of six years, starting next fiscal year. The Defense Ministry will earmark 15.7 billion yen in its budget request for next fiscal year and estimates the total cost of development at 46.6 billion yen. The ministry will make a prototype engine and electronic equipment by fiscal 2009. It will set about producing the prototype in fiscal 2010 and will make its first flight in fiscal 2011 at the earliest. The fuselage and engine are already under development. In 2005, the ministry tested a mockup model for stealth in France. "We have already confirmed high efficiency," a senior official of the Defense Ministry said. Japan and the United States once co-developed the F-2 fighter support plane. F-2 production will be will be ended in several years' time, so the planned development of an experimental aircraft model is for Japan to retain its technical know-how. Meanwhile, the Air Self-Defense Force is interested in the F-22 Raptor, a U.S.-developed fighter jet model, as a likely candidate for its follow-on mainstay fighter (FX). However, the United States will not consent to export the F-22. The Defense Ministry is hoping to negotiate with the United States to its advantage over the F-22. The United States is cautious about exporting the F-22 for security reasons, according to a government source. "For another," the source said, "they think Japan cannot develop stealth technologies on its own, so they want to sell it at a high price in the future." "It's possible for Japan to deploy its own fighter planes in around 2017 or 2018," a senior official of the Defense Ministry said. The Shinshin could replace the F-15. In the United States, however, there are concerns about Japan choosing to develop its own fighter jet model. That is because the United States will lose one of its export markets. SCHIEFFER