The Hindu : International : Japan, U.S. to develop missile defence system

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 24, 2005

International

International

Japan, U.S. to develop missile defence system

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, FEB. 23. Japan and the U.S. have agreed to intensify research on ballistic missile defence (BMD) for "cooperative development" of deployable systems in this sensitive sphere.

While the joint statement issued after a meeting of the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee in Washington has not set a timeline, Japan is understood to have favoured the fiscal year 2006 for this purpose.

Tokyo's sense of urgency is related to the CIA's take that North Korea could be ready at any time to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

The Japanese Defence Agency Director-General, Yoshinori Ono, and the U.S. Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, met ahead of the committee's sessions that were also attended by the Japanese Foreign Minister, Nobutaka Machimura, and the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Reacting to the Japan-U.S. move of identifying the resolution of the Taiwan issue as one of their "common strategic objectives," the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Kong Quan, has said in Beijing that "their action is not right."

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