“We are suspending the deployment process,” said defense Minister Taro Kono on Monday. According to some reports, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave the corresponding order on June 12.
such a step the official Tokyo has pushed several reasons. The placement of missile defense systems was an expensive project. Today for the Japanese government the issue of money is extremely painful. The Cabinet is forced to work in conditions of negative economic impact of the pandemic coronavirus and to consider future expenses due to the transfer of summer Olympic games of 2021.
an Additional factor that forced the Japanese to reconsider their approaches to the acquisition American defense systems, was the insecurity of their operation. The upper stage used in the Aegis Ashore missile during launch may fall outside of the landfill and cause harm to the civilian population, reports the newspaper “Asahi Shimbun”. The elimination of the defect would require a major revision of the projectiles in the first place, their software that is connected with attraction of additional financing.
Not the last role in the decision to refuse the installation of Aegis Ashore played the principled position of the leadership of the Japanese regions, which, under public pressure, has not approved the deployment of facilities in the prefectures of Akita and Yamaguchi. Japanese residents feared the negative impact of radar on human health.
Washington has not commented on the actions of the Japanese side. The Minister of foreign Affairs of Japan, Toshimitsu Motegi said that the incident will not affect Japanese-American relations. However, the President of the United States Donald trump is unlikely to remain satisfied with the position of the Japanese government. Moreover, the American administration has already authorized the sale of anti-missile systems in Tokyo.
it is possible that the US President in his usual manner will put pressure on Japan and will require review not the best decision for the us. It is known that Washington and Tokyo in the future to discuss the issue costs in the amount of 180 billion yen (1.6 billion USD) has signed in the framework of the deployment process ABOUT contracts.
Recall that by 2023, it was planned to deploy American missile defense systems Aegis Ashore in the Northern and South-Western parts of the Japanese main island of Honshu, in the prefectures of Akita and Yamaguchi. According to specialists, this arrangement of systems would cover the entire Japanese territory from ballistic missile attacks of a potential enemy. The Japanese authorities were prepared to spend on the acquisition of Aegis Ashore a substantial amount of 268 billion yen (about 2.4 billion US dollars – approx. “RG”).
