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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TOKYO 000896 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA 
WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION; 
TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; 
SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, 
DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA 
FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR; 
CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA
SUBJECT:  DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 03/02/07 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Government's panel envisions forming an overseas 
intelligence-gathering entity, but such challenges as how to train 
personnel remain unresolved 
 
(2) Advice to Abe administration from Isao Iijima, secretary to 
former Prime Minister Koizumi: Don't waste postal reform effort 
 
(3) Internet poll: 80% feel gaps expanding 
 
(4) Joint development of East China Sea gas fields: Japan proposes 
development in wide area along Japan-China median line; Proposal 
puts drawing of demarcation line on hold 
 
(5) Draft plan by LDP, Minshuto, Komeito proposes setting up of 
cabinet minister post in charge of oceanic affairs, focusing on 
preservation of maritime resources 
 
(Corrected copy) Papers to be sent to prosecutors on ASDF colonel on 
suspicion of leaking defense secrets 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Government's panel envisions forming an overseas 
intelligence-gathering entity, but such challenges as how to train 
personnel remain unresolved 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Excerpts) 
March 1, 2007 
 
Taro Saito 
 
The government's Council to Consider Strengthening 
Intelligence-Gathering Functions (chaired by Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Yasuhisa Shiozaki) issued its interim report yesterday on 
establishing a Japanese-version National Security Council (JNSC). 
The report aims at the creation of an intelligence-gathering body 
capable of planning foreign and security policies under the 
leadership of the Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei). The 
report also points out the need to enhance Japan's capability of 
gathering foreign intelligence, even envisioning the possibility of 
founding an external intelligence organization. 
 
"Various kinds of intelligence exist, such as open source 
information and information obtained from satellites, but human 
intelligence (HUMINT) is the freshest," said Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Shiozaki in an interview with the Sankei Shimbun yesterday. He 
stressed the importance of confidentially obtaining intelligence 
from other countries' key officials and intelligence professionals. 
In the process of forming an interim report, Shiozaki revealed that 
the group debated the question of "whether to establish an external 
intelligence organization and how it would function," adding: "This 
matter remains under debate. We will continue to discuss it 
carefully." 
 
Other countries are highly capable of analyzing open source 
information and can monitor situations using their 
intelligence-gathering satellites. It has been noted that compared 
to other countries, Japan lacks active measures to gather 
intelligence, for instance, working on other countries via human 
networks and manipulating public opinion. 
 
 
TOKYO 00000896  002 OF 007 
 
 
Major points of interim report 
 
7 Japan lacks information on such problems as international 
terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and North 
Korea because of difficulties in obtaining information on them 
abroad. We will promptly start discussions on measures and methods 
to gather more specialized and systematic information on other 
countries' people via human networks, as well as on the way the 
information-gathering system should function. 
 
7 In Japan, there is the significant difference in penalties for 
violation of confidentiality between laws. For example, the maximum 
prison term for violation of confidentiality under the National 
Civil Service Law is one year or less. This penalty is insufficient 
in terms of being a deterrent. There is need to discuss new 
legislation. 
 
7 Measures for the protection of intelligence, such as setting the 
uniform standard applicable to the government offices, are important 
as the premise for information gathering and sharing. Swiftly put 
into practice such measures for prevention of leakage of 
electromagnetic waves and prevention of wiretapping. 
 
7 Install the post of a capable Cabinet intelligence analyst 
(tentative name) in the Cabinet Intelligence Office. Allow the same 
person to stay in the post for a long time because of securing 
expertise. 
 
7 The intelligence analyst will draft an information assessment 
paper and refer it to a joint intelligence council. The assessment 
paper will be presented to the prime minister, the chief cabinet 
secretary, and other officials. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
7 The policy-planning section should be separated off from the 
information sector. Reorganize the Cabinet Intelligence Council to 
allow the Kantei's policy-planning sector to participate in it. 
 
Interview with Chief Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki: Systematic policy 
necessary for decision on policy choices 
 
Taro Saito 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, chair of the Council to 
Consider Strengthening Intelligence-Gathering Functions, yesterday 
gave an interview to the Sankei Shimbun to discuss the significance 
of strengthening such functions. 
 
Q: What is so important about strengthening the 
intelligence-gathering functions? 
 
A: "As evidenced by North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons 
development programs and its energy issue, the situation forces us 
to take into consideration both foreign and security affairs when we 
make a decision. In order for Japan to survive, the Kantei needs to 
make swift decisions. A good policy will come out only when there is 
a mechanism to gather as much correct information as possible from 
various sources, analyze it and offer it in accordance to policy 
needs." 
 
Q: What is the problem about the present information-intensive 
system? 
 
A: "The current system was not necessarily appropriate. In line with 
 
TOKYO 00000896  003 OF 007 
 
 
the Kantei leadership's interests, role sharing and coordination 
among intelligence agencies must be considered and carried out. It 
is important for intelligence to be come under the Cabinet 
Intelligence director and then to be sent to the secretariat of the 
Japanese National Security Council (JNSC). We will form a system 
under which the secretariat will create a systematic policy and 
policy options and cabinet members will participate in the JNSC to 
make a decision." 
 
Q: Do you think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sufficiently 
gathered foreign information? 
 
A: "When I previously served as senior vice foreign minister, I read 
a lot of information that was kept closed to the public. Such 
information was of great help. But it was not enough." 
 
Q: What will the newly created post of intelligence analyst be 
like? 
 
A: "We will hire intelligence analysts from among experts, civil 
servants or private-sector personnel, based on their specialties and 
on a subject-by-subject basis. We are also discussing how to treat 
them so as to have them work in their posts for a long time." 
 
(2) Advice to Abe administration from Isao Iijima, secretary to 
former Prime Minister Koizumi: Don't waste postal reform effort 
 
MAINICHI (Page 5) (Full) 
March 1, 2007 
 
There is no need to worry about the Abe cabinet's plummeting support 
rates in the polls. I believe that the Abe administration will 
become the most stable government among the LDP-led governments 
during the party's 51 years. Since the economy has improved, the 
unemployment rate decreased to 4.1% and the annual average ratio of 
jobs to applicants topped 100% for the first time in 14 years. 
 
When the Koizumi government was inaugurated, Japan was 
simultaneously experiencing deflation and falling stock prices, and 
both the employment and the effective ratios of job offers to job 
seekers were low. Therefore, the present economic situation is 
completely different from that under the Koizumi government. The 
economy is now stable, as it already hit the bottom. Good-standing 
companies have begun growing. I assume that disparities among 
regions spread in terms of figures, since good companies are 
unevenly distributed. There is no need to be afraid of the regional 
divide. Since the ruling coalition holds an absolute stable majority 
in the Diet, there will be no crisis in the Abe administration 
unless Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to quit his job. 
 
As former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi regarded postal 
privatization as the top priority issue, he did not hesitate to 
dissolve the Lower House in order to implement policies even though 
some in his party opposed his postal-privatization plan. The public 
supported him, didn't they? I don't want Abe to waste Koizumi's 
passion for postal reform. You cannot fool the public. The Koizumi 
government was in a tough spot in January 2002 when the prime 
minister sacked then Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka. Koizumi went 
along with Tanaka's effort to reform the Foreign Ministry, but 
Tanaka was unable to direct and supervise her subordinates and she 
did not have confidence in them at all. She then resisted Koizumi. 
The cabinet was divided. As the media focused their attention on 
Tanaka, the cabinet support rates in polls dropped by 20 to 30 
 
TOKYO 00000896  004 OF 007 
 
 
percentage points. But Koizumi did not take any measures toward the 
media aimed at boosting cabinet approval rates. 
 
With that lesson in mind, the Abe cabinet should utilize bureaucrats 
further. Under the parliamentary cabinet system, the leadership by 
the Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) and political 
leadership mean that the Kantei sets the government's policy targets 
and the prime minister then makes decisions on policies. If the 
Kantei makes too many policies and councils, bureaucrats will have 
no choice but to remain on the sidelines. It is only natural for the 
prime minister to order bureaucrats to draft policies, letting them 
research and report. Boldness lies in holding in reserve the right 
to make final decisions. I believe that in this lies the source of a 
prime minister's power. 
 
(3) Internet poll: 80% feel gaps expanding 
 
YOMIURI (Page 13) (Abridged) 
March 1, 2007 
 
The Yomiuri Shimbun, in its recent second installment (Feb. 21-27) 
of an annual series on Japan, looked into facts about the social 
divide and efforts for its correction. For this series, the Yomiuri 
Shimbun polled Internet users with NTT Resonant Inc. to probe their 
attitudes. In this attitude survey, about 80% of respondents were 
actually feeling the expansion of a social divide. Meanwhile, more 
than 70% were poised to accept it to a limited extent. 
 
Concerning the present state of the social divide, respondents were 
asked whether they thought the gap was expanding among the Japanese 
people. In response to this question, 81% answered "yes." They were 
further asked to pick one or more areas where they thought the gap 
was expanding. Among their answers, "wage gap among industries or 
companies" accounted for 81%, followed by "educational gap resulting 
from the income of parents" and "wage gap between full-time and 
part-time workers doing the same job." 
 
Meanwhile, 73% answered that there are acceptable and unacceptable 
gaps. In the areas of unacceptable gaps, "regional gap between urban 
and rural districts" accounted for 62%, with "educational gap" 
reaching 54%, and "gap between full-time and part-time workers" at 
48%. The proportion of "results-based wage gap among full-time 
workers" was low. What can be read from these figures is the mindset 
of people; they are concerned about gaps that cannot be resolved via 
their own efforts, but they tend to accept gaps resulting from 
competition. 
 
Many of those interviewed said they would accept a results-based 
gap. Masahiro Yamada, a professor at Tokyo Gakugei University, notes 
two different types of people whose opinions are "poles apart" in 
the recent trend of their arguments. Yamada cites people negative 
about the existence of gaps and people affirmative about it. "What I 
can see from the survey results is," Yamada says, "many 
people-premised on the existence of gaps-are concerned about the 
existence of unacceptable gaps in itself." He added, "They show a 
balanced view that is coolheaded and commonsense." 
 
Among those who responded to the survey, 36%, or 393 persons, 
answered that the gap has expanded for the worse. Among these 393 
persons, 99 were over age 60, topping all other age brackets. For 
one thing, there are many people who live on their pensions after 
retirement. In point of fact, however, the proportion of those who 
gave that answer among those aged 60 and over was 31%, which is 
 
TOKYO 00000896  005 OF 007 
 
N 
TOKYO 00000896  006 OF 007 
 
 
a way that both sides will find acceptable by avoiding drawing a 
demarcation line in disputed sea areas, as was the case in the 
bilateral fisheries agreement. 
 
The Chinese side has proposed joint development of areas off the 
Senkaku Islands. Japan's new proposal does not cover such sea 
areas. 
 
In the event an agreement is reached on a specific plan for joint 
development, Japan will flexibly deal with the issue of shouldering 
the cost of drilling facilities China has already built. It wants to 
enter into detailed talks with China as soon as possible in order to 
discuss: (1) selecting drilling companies; (2) setting quotas for 
the drilling of natural gas; (3) joint resources control method and 
cost-sharing, and so forth. 
 
The Chinese side has not yet made any clear-cut response to the 
Japanese proposal. To begin with, China has not recognized the 
validity of the Japan-China median line. As such, implementing joint 
projects based on the Japanese proposal will require a political 
decision. 
 
(5) Draft plan by LDP, Minshuto, Komeito proposes setting up of 
cabinet minister post in charge of oceanic affairs, focusing on 
preservation of maritime resources 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
March 2, 2007 
 
A draft plan for a "maritime basic bill," which would stipulate the 
nation's comprehensive policy in connection with ocean affairs such 
as development and usage of fishery and mineral resources, as well 
as environment preservation, was revealed on March 1. The draft plan 
was compiled by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), its 
coalition partner, New Komeito, and the leading opposition party, 
Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan). The draft calls for 
establishing a minister post in charge of maritime policy, as well 
as for a cabinet decision on a basic maritime plan. With the aim of 
coming up with measures toward China's ongoing gas exploration in 
the East China Sea, the draft stipulates that Japan would take 
necessary measures to prevent China from conducting activities that 
infringe on Japan's sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone 
(EEZ). The three parties are now under coordination to get the bill 
through the Diet during the current session, submitting it as 
lawmaker-initiated legislation. 
 
The draft is aimed to enhance the work of securing maritime 
resources, over which international conflicts have intensified by 
unifying oceanic policies under the various jurisdictions of the 
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of 
Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
other government agencies. 
 
The draft stipulates based on international cooperation Japan would 
become a new ocean-oriented country aimed at peaceful and proactive 
development and use of ocean, as well as protection of ocean 
environment. It also suggests the establishment of comprehensive 
ocean policy headquarters headed by the prime minister, the 
improvement in maritime research, and promotion of ocean security. 
 
(Corrected copy) Papers to be sent to prosecutors on ASDF colonel on 
suspicion of leaking defense secrets 
 
 
TOKYO 00000896  007 OF 007 
 
 
ASAHI (Page 1) (Full) 
March 2, 2007 
 
The Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces' Police Command 
authorities have decided to send papers to the Tokyo District Public 
Prosecutors Office on an Air Self-Defense Force colonel, 49, on 
suspicion of leaking defense secrets against the Self-Defense Forces 
Law, as a case falling under indictment. The SDF Police Command has 
investigated the leakage of classified information over a Yomiuri 
Shimbun article of May 2005 that reported that a Chinese naval 
submarine was stalled in the South China Sea due to an accident. In 
this incident, the ASDF colonel, posted to the Defense Intelligence 
Headquarters at the Defense Ministry, is alleged to have provided a 
Yomiuri Shimbun reporter with confidential information. The Defense 
Ministry and the SDF Police Command are now in final coordination 
with prosecutors. This is the first case of sending papers on an SDF 
officer on suspicion of leaking defense secrets newly incorporated 
in an amendment of 2001 to the Self-Defense Forces Law. 
 
The colonel has admitted to the allegations, authorities said. The 
SDF law, in its amendment, charges those who instigated leaking 
defense secrets. In this case, a Yomiuri Shimbun reporter, who wrote 
the article, was also subject to the charge. At this point, however, 
the authorities do not seem to take it that the reporter does not 
fall under instigation. 
 
The Yomiuri article was carried in the morning edition dated May 31, 
¶2005. In the article, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Japanese and 
US defense sources identified the vessel as a "Ming-class" 
diesel-powered attack submarine of the Chinese navy "with an 
identification number in the 300s." 
 
The article contained top-secret information provided by the United 
States. The US government strongly requested the Japanese government 
to control information in a thoroughgoing way. Shortly after the 
article was carried, the Defense Agency's investigative authorities 
at the time filed a criminal complaint with the SDF Police Command 
against an unknown suspect. According to the Police Command's 
investigations, the colonel got to know the Yomiuri Shimbun reporter 
through his acquaintance and is suspected of having leaked 
information to the reporter about the Chinese submarine right before 
the article came out. 
 
According to the Defense Ministry, a newspaper reporter could be 
charged with instigation in case that reporter's news coverage is an 
infraction of the criminal code, or otherwise in case that 
reporter's news coverage is generally unacceptable in such forms as 
playing footsie. As a result of questioning the colonel, the SDF 
Police Command seems to have judged that the colonel does not come 
under either case. 
 
The investigation was aimed at showing Japan's efforts for 
information security to the United States. However, media reports 
have also noted that those covered and media reporters could be 
unnecessarily dispirited. 
 
SCHIEFFER