Photo/Illutration An illustration of the fighter jet to be jointly developed with Britain and Italy (Provided by the Defense Ministry)

The ruling coalition is inching closer to reaching an agreement with its pacifist junior partner on the controversial issue of whether to allow exports of next-generation fighter jets to be jointly developed with Britain and Italy.

Komeito did not want to be seen as simply tagging along with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s plans to export not only the next-generation fighter jet, but other defense equipment as well.

On March 8, the policy chiefs of the two parties met and agreed to work toward reaching an agreement by the end of the month. A major point of discussions will center on the conditions to be set for exports.

Yosuke Takagi, the Komeito policy chief, told reporters after the meeting: “There is ow a better understanding of the issue within our party. We will hold further internal discussions in an effort to reach an agreement.”

Kisaburo Tokai, the LDP policy chief, expressed confidence that the two sides were moving forward toward an accord.

Government officials explained during the March 8 meeting some of the conditions that could limit the export of defense equipment.

One condition will likely be that the jointly developed fighter jet would be the only defense equipment to be exported, rather than a broader export of all jointly developed equipment.

Moreover, the fighter jets would not be exported to nations now engaged in military conflict. Only nations that have signed agreements with Japan regarding the export of defense equipment would be eligible to receive the fighter jets.

The ruling coalition is also considering putting in place a stricter process for making decisions in the future when the government does consider exporting the fighter jets.

(This article was written by Mika Kuniyoshi and Naoki Matsuyama.)

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