Younghusband pointed out this brief news article related to my earlier post.
BEIJING — A Chinese newspaper and the Japanese Embassy in Beijing are in dispute over coverage of Japan’s firearms exports. The dispute was triggered by an illustrated, full-page Jan 17 article in Elite Reference, a newspaper under the China Youth Daily, that Japan exported $65 million worth of arms in 2003, becoming one of the world’s top eight arms exporters.
The article, titled “Examining the Reality of Japan’s Military Spending,” said that in 2001 Japan exported $55.7 million worth of bombs, hand grenades and other arms, mostly to the United States. Embassy spokesman Keiji Ide visited the newspaper’s offices in Beijing on Jan 19 to meet the reporter, Qiu Yongzheng, question his sources and challenge some parts of the article.
Ok, I know that Japan exports handguns under the claim that they are sports equipment and not actual “arms,” but bombs and hand grenades? Is there any truth to this whatsoever? Keep in mind that the report comes from Chinese state media, not widely knows as the most reliable source.
I remember reading about hidden Japanese military exports before and I think this is possibly true, though not exactly as shocking as it sounds. Even Taiwan exports weapons to the United States. Several million rounds of rifle ammunition a year back or so. It wouldn’t be to surprising if Raytheon was subcontracting grenades or bombs from Japan to make up for the increase in usage during on the ongoing Gulf conflict.
Check out the original article where the Chinese one got its info, then you can draw your own conclusions http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9249