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Japanese PM Expresses Concern Over Russia's Arms Exports to China

Posted on: Monday, 21 November 2005, 12:00 CST

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Tokyo, 21 November: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed concern Monday [21 November] to Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia's arms exports to China as well as the joint military exercises conducted by the two countries last year, a Japanese official said.

Koizumi told Putin during their talks in Tokyo that he hopes Russia will deal with exporting weapons to China "in a careful manner" and asked for greater transparency regarding the China- Russia exercises in August last year, the official said.

It is believed to be the first time Japan has expressed concern over Russia's arms exports to China in summit talks. China is the biggest destination of arms exports for Russia.

Putin responded that Russia is not a leading exporter of arms to China and mentioned that Moscow is fully aware of its responsibilities, while noting that China's economic growth, particularly in the high-tech field, shows the country would be able to produce all the weapons it needs on its own in the near future, the official said.

The Russian leader also said his country participated in the military exercises as a guest and added he agrees with Koizumi on the need for utmost transparency regarding such events, the official said.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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