Ditching a long-standing policy that in principle prohibited Japanese exports of weapons, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on April 1 introduced a new three-point rule that could increase weapons exports without limits. The new arms export policy could alter the pacifist posture of Japan under its war-renouncing Constitution by creating a Japanese footprint in international conflicts. The Abe administration should be censured for effectively throwing away the arms export ban — an important diplomatic asset that has earned the nation trust from the international community.

The new policy will weaken Japan's soft power. Japan's credibility in the area of arms reduction and disarmament was bolstered by the weapons-export ban. It will no longer be able to fulfill this vital role once it becomes an arms exporter.

The government and the public need to realize that the new policy could result in Japanese weapons being used in international conflicts, thus making Japan an indirect party to such conflicts. This could prompt some countries or groups to regard Japan as an enemy and lead them to launch terrorist attacks on Japanese soil. It's also possible that Japanese arms could be re-exported to third parties and fall into the hands of groups or countries that are hostile to Japan.