Japan to set up its own space force

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that Japan will follows America and form a space defence unit.

Shinzo Abe and president Dwight Eisenhower’s granddaughter Mary Jean Eisenhower, centre, help break a barrel of sake to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Japan-US security treaty at the Iikura Guesthouse in Tokyo on Sunday. Picture: AP

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan will form a space defence unit to protect itself from potential threats as rivals develop missiles and other technology.

The new unit would work closely with its American counterpart, recently launched by President Donald Trump.

The Space Domain Mission Unit will start in April as part of Japan’s Air Self-Defence Force, Mr Abe said in a policy speech marking the start of the year’s parliamentary session.

He said Japan must also defend itself from threats in cyberspace and from electromagnetic interference against Japanese satellites.

Concerns are growing that China and Russia are seeking ways to interfere, disable or destroy satellites.

“We will drastically bolster capability and systems in order to secure superiority” in those areas, Mr Abe said.

The space unit will be added to an existing air base at Fuchu in the western suburbs of Tokyo, where about 20 people will be staffed ahead of a full launch in 2020. The role of the space unit is to conduct satellite-based navigation and communications for other troops in the field, rather than being on the ground.

Mr Abe’s cabinet in December approved a ¥50.6bn ($670m) budget in space-related projects, pending parliamentary approval.

The unit will co-operate with the US Space Command that Mr Trump established in August, as well as Japan’s space exploration agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Mr Abe has pushed for Japan’s Self-Defence Force to expand its international role and capability by bolstering co-operation and weapons compatibility with the US, as it increasingly works alongside American troops and as it grows concerned about the increasing capabilities of China and North Korea.

Mr Abe, in marking Sunday’s 60th anniversary of the signing of the Japan-US security treaty, vowed to bolster Japan’s capability and co-operation with the US, including in the areas of space and cyber security.

The Prime Minister said he was determined to settle Japan’s “unfortunate past” with North Korea, as he hopes to “sum up” his country’s post-war legacies before his term expires next year.

He reiterated his intention to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without the conditions he had demanded in the past — denuclearising the Korean peninsula and resolving the decades-old issue of abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea.

Part of Mr Abe’s plan while in office is to achieve his long-cherished goal of revising Japan’s US-drafted constitution that prohibits the use of force in settling international disputes. Despite Mr Abe’s push, chances are fading for the revision due to a lack of public interest and the opposition’s focus on other issues such as Japan’s recent dispatch of naval troops to the Middle East and questionable public record-keeping at Mr Abe’s annual cherry blossom-viewing parties.

In a sign of a thaw in Japan’s recently tense relations with South Korea, Mr Abe said he planned to co-operate closely with Seoul in dealing with a harsh security environment in northeast Asia.

Mr Abe, however, repeated his demand that South Korea resolve the issue of compensation for the former Korean labourers during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule.

“I hope (South Korea) keeps its promise between the two countries and build future-oriented bilateral relations,” he said.

AP