Japan may shoot itself in foot with weapons exports

Driven by a neo-militarist agenda, Tokyo revised the Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology and implementation guidelines on April 21, lifting the ban on lethal weapon exports.

This change came exactly six months after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office. Earlier, Japan had quietly eased restrictions on weapons exports, but this decisive move signals a clear, systemic shift toward becoming a military-industrial power profiting from arms manufacturing. The international community must remain vigilant and firmly oppose this development.

In 2014, the then Shinzo Abe administration introduced the three principles that focused on "relaxing restrictions". This allowed the export of non-lethal weapons for five purposes, including rescue, transport, surveillance, reconnaissance and mine-clearing, to security partners, while tacitly encouraging arms exports.