Posted on 09/09/2014 9:52:52 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
(Reuters) - Japan and the United States are exploring the possibility of Tokyo acquiring offensive weapons that would allow Japan to project power far beyond its borders, Japanese officials said, a move that would likely infuriate China.
While Japan's intensifying rivalry with China dominates the headlines, Tokyo's focus would be the ability to take out North Korean missile bases, said three Japanese officials involved in the process.
They said Tokyo was holding the informal, previously undisclosed talks with Washington about capabilities that would mark an enhancement of military might for a country that has not fired a shot in anger since its defeat in World War Two.
The talks on what Japan regards as a "strike capability" are preliminary and do not cover specific hardware at this stage, the Japanese officials told Reuters.
Defence experts say an offensive capability would require a change in Japan's purely defensive military doctrine, which could open the door to billions of dollars worth of offensive missile systems and other hardware. These could take various forms, such as submarine-fired cruise missiles similar to the U.S. Tomahawk.
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
Ping.
typically the pattern in bureaucratic Japan is that if a question of this sensitivity is broached in the public it means that the decision has already been privately made, most likely quite some time ago.
actually my opinion is that this decision is long overdue.
Yes Please.
Nukes should be considered.
China blood pressure be damned.
Ping.
gaijin, “long overdue”
This very ominous bit involves a sea change (no pun intended), stirring the pot of emerging belligerent China and long recalcitrant Taiwan, Vietnam (north & south), South Korea and soon the Indo-Flip. The sick feeble Russian Bear is next. Shifting sands in Kasak Stan, stench in Chechnya, munching on dry rot in Crimea, and awakening a gentle giant, Ukraine.
You Jus gota love it, Rab sure does.
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