DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 05/08/09

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TOKYO 001059 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 05/08/09 INDEX: (1) Use of weapons in patrolling airspace (Sankei) (2) Osprey deployment to Futenma set for fall 2012 (Ryukyu Shimpo) (3) Hiroyuki Noguchi's National Security Reader: The charge of "guilt by association" should be applied to North Korea, Iran (Sankei) (4) DPJ members become increasingly doubtful and suspicious about President Ozawa (Asahi) (5) TOP HEADLINES (6) EDITORIALS (7) Prime Minister's schedule, May 5 (Nikkei) ARTICLES: (1) Use of weapons in patrolling airspace SANKEI (Page 1) (Abridged sligtly) May 6, 2009 This newspaper learned on May 5 that a plan to revise the way to patrol Japan's airspace by amending the Self-Defense Forces Law has surfaced in the run-up to a year-end revision of the National Defense Program Guidelines. According to the proposal, the government will consider enabling the SDF to use weapons to carry out such a duty, because if their use of weapons remain limited to self-defense and emergency evacuation purposes, it is difficult for them to effectively pursue such a duty. Chances are high that the amended law will include measures to deal with a hijacked passenger plane, similar to the case of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. The National Defense Program Guidelines are the basic guidelines for security policy set by the government. The Aso cabinet in January this year set up an experts panel tasked with revising the guidelines. It aims to complete the revision by year's end. Concerning the patrolling of the territorial airspace by the SDF, Article 84 of the SDF Law has a regulation on intrusion into territorial airspace. In the event that foreign aircraft violates Japan's airspace (20 nautical miles from Japan's coastal line) against international law and Japan's domestic law, the defense minister is empowered to order an SDF unit to apply enforcement measures, including giving orders for the aircraft to land or vacate the country's air space. However, the use of weapons is limited to self-defense and emergency evacuation purposes. If the plane is just continuing a provocative flight without indicating any intention to attack, it is difficult for the SDF to use weapons to forcibly vacate it, according to a senior officer of the Air Self-Defense Force. When North Korea launched a missile on April 5, Russia dispatched surveillance aircraft to take a scout around of the operation of the missile defense system of Japan's Aegis vessels. Since the Russian plane entered the Air Defense Identification Zone, which requires the submission of a flight plan, Japan scrambled a fighter jet. TOKYO 00001059 002 OF 006 However, it was unable to take a measure to vacate it, a measure allowed to take against a plane that violated the airspace. For that reason, some government officials take the stance that it is imperative to grant the ASDF full authority to deal with such a situation even within the Air Defense Identification Zone. The government is also hypothesizing an attack by a hijacked passenger plane as in the case of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. Since it takes time to deal with such a situation with a public security operation, a plan to cope with such in the patrolling of territorial airspace has surfaced, targeting not only foreign aircraft but also domestic aircraft. (2) Osprey deployment to Futenma set for fall 2012 RYUKYU SHIMPO (Page 1) (Abridged) May 8, 2009 The U.S. Marine Corps' (USMC) Futenma Air Station will be home to the MV-22 Osprey, a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft serving as the follow-on mainstay transport, according to the U.S. Marine Corps' FY2009 aircraft deployment plan. Ospreys will be deployed to Futenma in October 2012. Meanwhile, the USMC aircraft deployment plan also says the USMC will replace its FA-18 fighter attackers, currently assigned to its Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture, with 16 F-35B joint strike fighter jets in October 2016 or afterward. The F-35B is a next generation fighter plane and also a VTOL aircraft. If the F-35Bs also come to Okinawa on their flight missions, concerns about noise are likely to escalate further. The previous plan had also indicated that the deployment of MV-22 Ospreys to Futenma would start in 2012. The Japanese government reiterated that it was not informed of any specific deployment plan. However, the FY2009 plan shows that the deployment of Ospreys to Futenma has already been set. The F-35 was co-developed by the United States and Britain and is called a fifth generation fighter, which is a stealth aircraft like the F-22 that is barely detectable to radar. There are three types of F-35. Type A is for the Air Force, Type B is for the Marine Corps, and Type C is carrier-borne for the Navy. Type B is a VTOL aircraft with a complicated structured that has ordinary engines plus a built-in uplifting fan in its midsection. The deployment of MV-22 Ospreys to Futenma is to be completed by June 2013. The Futenma airfield is currently home to two heliborne squadrons with a total of 24 CH-46 mid-sized helicopters. The MV-22s will replace these Futenma-based CH-46 choppers. (3) Hiroyuki Noguchi's National Security Reader: The charge of "guilt by association" should be applied to North Korea, Iran, SANKEI (Page 5) (Excerpts) May 8, 2009 America and European countries strongly proclaimed their opposition to Iran's developing and testing nuclear weapons and missiles, but for North Korea, there was only criticism to a level that Japan would accept it. Their level of sincerity is suspect. Certainly, Iran's missiles are aimed at the countries of NATO, of which the United States is a member, and at Israel, while the DPRK's missiles can reach Japan but not the U.S. However, on the point of the TOKYO 00001059 003 OF 006 proliferation of nuclear weapons and the development of missile technology to transport such weapons, both countries are equally guilty. To begin with, the situation is that every time there is a nuclear and missile technology exchange between North Korea and Iran, the level of completion rises. Europe and the U.S. have expectations of North Korea being a state rich in mineral resources, but they do not strongly recognize it as a common enemy of the West. Japan, too, has a strong tendency to see Iran as an important supplier of energy resources. It lacks a sense of Iran being an enemy. As long as this perception gap is not filled, Japan will only become more isolated on North Korean issues. Differences toward UNSC responses In talks on Iran centered on the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, and France - and Germany, sanctions resolutions against that country, such as freezing its foreign assets, have been adopted by the UNSC five times since 2006. The European Union (EU) also in recent years has repeatedly added its own sanctions, such as freezing the assets in the region of Iran's national bank and thoroughly inspecting cargo. For the U.S., as well, from the 1980s, sanctions that prohibited trade and new investment by U.S. companies have continued and been extended. In comparison, there have been only two UNSC economic and financial sanctions on North Korea since 2006. Upon adopting the sanctions, major countries outside of Japan have yet to effectively implement the sanction measures. And that is not all, the U.S. in 2007 removed a freeze on North Korea's assets in a Macao bank, and in 2008, ignoring Japan's objections, removed North Korea from its list of states sponsoring terrorism. Japan's own economic sanctions that used the special law banning port entry and the foreign exchange law became the remaining few protest measures. Range includes American mainland However, the improved version of the Taepodong-2 has an extended flight range and could reach Hawaii or Alaska in the U.S. The U.S. does not consider that the technology is there yet to reach the target, for example, the islands of Hawaii. Even if launched toward Alaska, there is a danger that the missile would pass over China and Russia, so a decision is hard to make. Yet, the U.S. is far from the situation of feeling a deepening sense of alarm toward North Korea. Some of the data of the improved type Taepodong-2 has been certainly passed along to Iran. Based on that data, it is now Iran's turn to improve its missiles. The intended target of the catch-ball going on between North Korea and Iran's technology transfer is of course Israel. Europe and America are also within range. In particular, if North Korea is able to only maintain its flight range, the target would be somewhere in the heartland of the North American continent. Only at that time would the U.S. raise the North Korea problem to a higher level of importance than Iran and Afghanistan. In order to raise the U.S.' level of crisis consciousness toward North Korea, Japan needs to work on NATO and the UN to pass TOKYO 00001059 004 OF 006 resolutions against North Korea and Iran. This is the opportunity to crack down on the secret trade and proliferation being carried out by these two countries in connection with nuclear and missile technologies. These members of the "axis of evil" should be countered as being "guilty by association." (4) DPJ members become increasingly doubtful and suspicious about President Ozawa ASAHI (Page 4) (Excerpts) May 8, 2009 Lawmakers in the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) are doubtful and suspicious about DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa's course of action. It was believed that Ozawa would make a decision on whether he would remain in his post or step down after the Golden Week holidays in early May. However, Ozawa went missing during the holiday period and failed to attend any meetings. Senior party members found themselves in the difficult situation of dealing with rumors. Given that, the DPJ is in a gloomy mood as it is unable to escape from the quagmire. Ozawa met yesterday evening with New Party Daichi representative Muneo Suzuki at his private office in Tokyo. Suzuki, who strongly supports Ozawa's decision to remain in his post, reportedly advised Ozawa about the political funds problem. However, a series of events caused party members to wonder if Ozawa's past illness called 'going missing' had resurfaced. The DPJ set up a panel of experts following the donation scandal involving Ozawa's secretary. The panel suddenly cancelled the planned hearing by Ozawa and Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama. The panel said that it had cancelled the hearing due to "inappropriate media reports." With this, the largest opposition party will inevitably be thrown into a state of turmoil. Another chance for Ozawa to establish accountability has been put off. Hatoyama and his followers held a meeting on the night of May 6 in Karuizawa Town, Nagano Prefecture. The group gave consideration to Ozawa's schedule in planning the meeting in order to strengthen unity with DPJ Upper House Caucus Chairman Azuma Koshiishi and lawmakers that support Ozawa. However, Ozawa did not attend the gathering. An Upper House member said angrily: "Why doesn't President Ozawa come? He should be replaced." Another participant said that Hatoyama and Kan should ask Ozawa to quit his post. Hatoyama, who appears to have lost face, told participants: "I don't really know the reason for (his absence),but I believe he might have refrained from attending in consideration of the situation (that all eyes are focused on his course of action)." (5) TOP HEADLINES Asahi: Poll: Welfare caseworkers in shortfall in 67 out of 73 cities and wards as benefit applications increase sharply Mainichi: Japan's public, private sectors thwart Russian enterprise's plan to buy Japanese maker with nuclear reactor production technology TOKYO 00001059 005 OF 006 Yomiuri: Traffic jams on expressways double during Golden Week due to 1,000 yen toll system Nikkei: Panasonic, Sumitomo Chemical to co-develop large OEL panels Sankei: GM shows deficit of 600 billion yen in January-March period Tokyo Shimbun: 2.85 trillion yen to be allocated to corporations that accept retired bureaucrats Akahata: Nonproliferation talks achieve breakthrough (6) EDITORIALS Asahi: (1) Diet debate: Attention fixed on party-heads debate (2) Reorganization of banks and securities houses should be done for sake of customers Mainichi: (1) Nursing care: Listen to the voices of nurses (2) Bill to relieve sufferers of Minamata mercury poisoning: Don't draw the curtain before shedding light on the issue Yomiuri: (1) Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant: Take adequate measures for the restart (2) Japan-U.S. defense cooperation: Deepen strategic dialogue to strengthen the alliance Nikkei: (1) European Central Bank must take quick action for financial stabilization (2) Restarting operation of Niigata reactor is a first steady step for the restoration of nuclear plants Sankei: (1) Mid-term goal for greenhouse gas emissions: Set a realistic goal (2) Afghanistan-Pakistan situation: Stabilization of security needed to prevent outflow of nuclear weapons Tokyo Shimbun: (1) Debate on extra budget: Government should give clear replies (2) Eco-cars: Time to review auto regulations Akahata: (1) Safe society: Drastic change in LDP-New Komeito politics necessary (7) Prime Minister's schedule, May 5 NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) May 8, 2009 Local time TOKYO 00001059 006 OF 006 Evening Left Tegel Airport, Berlin, by government plane. Prime Minister's schedule, May 6 14:33 Arrived at Haneda Airport. 15:08 Met with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsumoto at the official residence. Prime Minister's schedule, May 7 8:20 Met with Matsumoto at the Kantei. 9:00 Lower House Budget Committee meeting 12:07 Arrived at the Kantei. 13:00 Lower House Budget Committee meeting. 17:39 Met with Vice Foreign Minister Yabunaka and European Affairs Bureau Director General Tanizaki. 18:53 Met with chiefs of economic departments of various news agencies at Kissho, a Japanese restaurant in Yurakucho. 21:24 Arrived at the official residence. ZUMWALT