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Japan muzzles the nosy media on
Iraq
By Axel Berkofsky
Probing journalists ask too many questions and
they do not need to know everything about the historic
mission of Japanese non-combat troops stationed in
southern Iraq. That's what Shigeru Ishiba, director
general of Japan's Defense Agency, says, and he is
ordering sharply limited access to information,
provoking a howl of dismay from journalists.
In
an overwhelmingly pacifist nation divided over the
dispatch of troops, even on a humanitarian mission, some
officials believe that bad news could be bad for the
nation's morale.
Late last week in yet another
statement very likely to cause controversy in the weeks
and months to come, Ishiba announced plans to scale down
the number of press conferences while his troops are in
and around Samawah in southern Iraq. Although Japan's
liberal and left-leaning press had to come to terms with
government-imposed censorship and exclusion from press
conferences and briefings a long time ago, the
government's attempt this time to muzzle the media was
still greeted with "predictable outrage" by numerous
journalists, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
Following the US example of trying to make sure
that only the good news - if any at all - makes it on to
TV screens, only Ishiba himself, his vice minister and
the chairman of the Joint Staff Council will be talking
to the press during the military's humanitarian mission
in Iraq.
"Journalists have too few questions
during too many press conferences," Ishiba said,
explaining his decision to take over the distribution of
information personally. Keeping the bad news to himself
for now, he added, is "not an attempt to manipulate
information but only for the sake of the troops, Japan
and the reconstruction in Iraq".
Publication of
unauthorized information was not expected to be
censured, but self-censorship concerning sensitive
issues, especially concerning defense, is very common in
Japan. The Japanese media, especially the Japan Times
and Asahi Shimbun, publish considerable foreign
news-service copy.
Then again press censorship
is nothing new in Japan, where many high-ranking
politicians prefer to talk to a few hand-picked and
"friendly" journalists from the so-called "press clubs"
(Japan's Kisha Clubs), an association of Japanese male
journalists (women and foreigners attend by invitation
only) with exclusive access to government and ministry
officials.
Investigative journalism is
cautious
That is as far as investigative
journalism usually goes in Japan, although putting
Ishiba in charge of the military's public relations
might turn out to be a bad idea given his record of
verbal blunders, including his suggestions to attack
North Korea preemptively and to go nuclear if
"necessary".
For his part, Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi washed his hands of the
Defense Agency's initiative to feed good news to a few
good, hand-chosen journalists at good-news press
conferences. "It is up to the Defense Agency how it
releases information to let Japanese people understand
the military's role in Iraq," Koizumi said, indicating
that the military's "what you don't know won't hurt you"
tactics will help keep the public from worrying too much
about Japanese troops in harm's way in Iraq.
The
prime minister's success in limiting the damage done by
the gaffe-prone Ishiba, however, turned out to be
short-lived, as usual. In a "stunningly unsettling
statement", as the Asahi Shimbun put it, Ishiba
suggested only a day later a review of Japan's
self-imposed ban on the export of weapons and weapons
technology. Instead of sticking to what is considered to
be a key principle of Japanese "peace" diplomacy, Ishiba
said he hoped Japan would into arms development and
production with countries other than the United States.
He had European nations and Russia in mind and
he advocated the "export" (in effect, the "dumping") of
old Japanese naval vessels to Southeast Asian countries
to make a few million dollars in light of the tight
fiscal situation in Japan. But only, of course, Ishiba
added, if the weapon sales are "ethically acceptable".
Japan introduced what it called the Three
Principles of Arms Export under prime minister Eisaku
Sato back in 1968, and discussing their revision - the
government now refers to "slight changes" - was taboo
until late last year. At that time the Defense Agency
thought out amending the principles with some fine
print, in view of Japan's plan to develop a regional
missile defense system jointly with the United States.
The three principles ban arms exports:
To communist bloc countries.
To countries subject to arms-export embargoes under
United Nations Security Council resolutions.
To countries involved in or likely to be involved in
international conflicts.
The US has long
complained about Japan's reluctance to sell weapons and
weapons technology, urging Tokyo to abolish the ban.
This would enable the US, as a recipient, eventually to
sell the system to other governments in the region, such
as Taiwan, which could be involved in a conflict with
mainland China over reunification.
US urges
Japan to lift arms export ban
Late last year,
Japan agreed to move beyond the research and on to the
development phase of the missile defense system, but the
Pentagon still complains that moving ahead to production
will be difficult as long as Japan refuses to sell its
technology globally. In reality, however, the system has
not yet moved beyond the development stage because it
has yet to be demonstrated that it is technically
feasible. Much more research and cash will be necessary
before other countries in the region will decide to
shoot down missiles with a system that only seems to be
working when the Pentagon is conducting tests without
the media present. Koizumi had to step in yet again,
explaining what his loose-tongued Defense Agency chief
must have meant by "reviewing" the three principles. The
review, the prime minister explained, would only apply
to the missile defense technology and would not turn
Japan into an "arms trader" just yet . Ishiba's remarks,
he added, did not represent the government's view.
While Japan's liberal press once again
questioned Ishiba's rationality and his ability to run
the country's pacifist military, the conservative
Yomiuri Shimbun claimed that Ishiba only wants his
government to catch up with Washington and the rest of
world in exporting weapons. Arguing in effect "when
others do it, why shouldn't we?", the Yomiuri suggested
that lifting the ban on exporting weapons is the only
way to keep up with other nations and will reduce the
costs for arms production at home.
Meanwhile in
Iraq, Dutch troops welcomed the advance unit of 30
Japanese troops in the heretofore quiet southern city of
Samawah. The Japanese contingent left a US military base
in the Kuwaiti desert on Monday and crossed the border
into Iraq on the same day, escorted by Dutch military.
Japan plans to deploy 500-1,000 troops for humanitarian
work.
The dispatch of troops has stirred deep
controversy in pacifist Japan. Covering the deployment
is Japan's biggest story in years and scores of Japanese
reporters tracked the troops to the encampment they
share with the Dutch. Carefully controlled press
briefings are expected.
Later on Monday Koizumi
once again reaffirmed his commitment to sending the
non-combat ground troops to Iraq, as the parliament
convened for a 150-day legislative session.
Japan's mission is strictly humanitarian,
including the supply of water and medical services as
well as rebuilding schools, hospitals and other elements
of Iraq's devastated infrastructure. To make sure the
Japanese troops are welcome in Samawah, the advance team
is planning to employ Iraqi civilians, sorely in need of
work, like many of their countrymen. The Japanese
government also will spend as much as US$1.5 billion on
Iraq's reconstruction this year.
How will
Japanese troops react if attacked?
No information
has been publicly reported on how the Japanese troops
are to respond to attacks that have plagued many other
national military contingents in Iraq. The use of
weapons will be limited to individual self-defense,
meaning that Japanese soldiers will not be able to
defend their Dutch comrades if they come under attack.
The Dutch troop contingent, on the other hand, is
charged with protecting the Japanese from attacks,
exercising the right to collective self-defense.
Japanese soldiers are still banned from taking part in
collective self-defense, and Ishiba himself traveled to
the Netherlands last week, informing his Dutch
colleagues of his advance team's "strategy" of leaving
their posts and returning quickly to Tokyo should the
going get rough.
While according to very recent
opinion polls a majority of the Japanese public is still
against sending armed forces to Iraq, the government is
detecting growing interest in a career in the armed
forces among graduates and the unemployed. However, news
reports indicate that rising unemployment, and not
necessarily a burning desire to serve in the armed
forces, spurred young men to enlist in Japan's military
last year.
The media's pessimism aside,
government officials hope the new Japanese mission in
Iraq will further boost the military's perceived fresh
popularity. Like US President George W Bush and British
Prime Minister Tony Blair before him, Koizumi is
reportedly planning to pay his troops a "secret visit"
in Iraq to boost the morale of his men.
Japanese
soldiers might need more than moral support if bullets
start flying their way, and they are limited to mainly
firing warning shots into the air if attacked. The crash
course in Arabic the troops took before deployment may
not persuade terrorists and the Iraqi resistance to stop
shooting at Japan's pacifist soldiers on a humanitarian
mission.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Co,
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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