As ill-feeling in Australia grows due to Japanese unwillingness to share Soryu construction - Japan will need to become used to age-old Australian worries about the Japanese militarists (current or retired officers) returning to power in Japan. Minister Nakatani being a former soldier. Japanese naval officers increasingly vocal.
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COMMENT
Selling major weapons systems involves some political and security downsides and distortions. Japan will need to become accustomed to this. The arms business can lead to an odd situation like Stirling AIP engines being sold to China.
Captain Toshihide Yamauchi's worries (in the article below) about Australia's ability to safeguard sensitive Japanese intellectual property are well founded:
- Australia is closer economically to China than it is to Japan
- Selling Japanese submarine steel composition and welding details to China would be lucrative to a selling company
- An Australian change of Government to Labor would bring in some politicians who still prize their socialist comradely relations with China
- Some Australian companies that would be involved in a submarine enterprise have links to China
- Australia cannot ban ethnic Chinese-Australians from working in the submarine commercial or related government defence sector
- A previous Minister judged to be too close to Chinese interests was removed years ago
ARTICLE
The Reuters article, June 4, 2015, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/04/australia-japan-submarine-idUSL3N0YQ08120150604 is:
"Australian
senator slams Japan over submarine capability comments
SYDNEY, JUNE
4 | BY
MATT SIEGEL
An influential Australian senator on Thursday hit out at
Japanese defence officials over comments that Australia was incapable of
building a version of a high-tech Japanese-designed submarine at home.
Germany's ThyssenKrupp and France's state-controlled
naval contractor DCNS separately are competing with a Japanese government-led
bid for Australia's A$50 billion ($38.84 billion) next generation submarine
project.
Japan, which had been the front-runner in the planned
sale of about 12 vessels to replace Australia's ageing Collins class
submarines, is under pressure to build at least some of the boats in South
Australia.
But on Wednesday, the former commander of the Japanese
submarine fleet, Masao Kobayashi, cast doubt on Australia's ability to build
them.
"They don't have enough skilled workers to fashion
the high-tension steel; it's even hard to do in Japan," he told the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Another Japanese submarine captain, Toshihide Yamauchi,
raised concern to the ABC about Australia's ability to safeguard sensitive
Japanese intellectual property.
"We're worried about leaks to China once our
technology is in Australia," he said.
Independent South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon hit
back over the comments, calling them a "disgrace".
"It's widely known that both the German and French
teams are ready, willing and able to build state-of-the-art, ultra-reliable
submarines on Australian soil," Xenophon said.
"The Japanese appear to be trying to find excuses to
have $50 billion worth of Australian taxpayers' money spent largely entirely in
Japan."
A deal to supply a variant of Japan's 4,000 tonne
Soryu-class submarine would give Japan its first major overseas deals after Abe
eased curbs on arms exports last year that had isolated defence contractors for
seven decades.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is eager to deepen
security ties with Japan, reflecting a U.S. desire for its two allies to take a
bigger security role in Asia as China's military might grows.
Eager for that deeper cooperation, the United States is
backing the Japanese-built submarine packed with American surveillance, radar
and weapons equipment, sources familiar with Washington's thinking have told
Reuters.
But Abbott is facing intense domestic political pressure
to secure the thousands of manufacturing jobs that the build would bring, and
Japan had previously seemed willing to compromise over where the submarines
would be built.
Xenophon said the comments showed that Japan was not
ready to take part in the biggest defence procurement project in Australian
history.
Pete
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