The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Defense Ministry decided to cancel a tour of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Aegis-equipped destroyer Kirishima for crew members of the Shenzhen, China's Luhai-class missile destroyer--currently visiting Japan as part of the bilateral defense exchange program--as the U.S. military in Japan strongly opposed the idea, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Thursday.
The U.S. military was worried about leakage of confidential information about the Aegis system, sources said.
The exchange program was agreed at a meeting of the two sides' defense ministers in August. The Chinese vessel arrived at Tokyo Port's Harumi Pier on Wednesday.
The Shenzhen is scheduled to stay until Saturday. In response to their request, the destroyer's captain and a dozen senior crew members were to have been shown around the Kirishima on Friday, when they visit the MSDF's Yokosuka District Headquarters in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
According to the sources in the government, the U.S. military stationed in Japan and the U.S. Embassy in Japan inquired about the planned tour and urged the government to cancel it Wednesday.
The Defense Ministry abandoned its plan and instead decided to show the Chinese crew members around the supply ship Tokiwa, which returned from a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean last Friday.
According to a Defense Ministry source, the MSDF had asked the U.S. military in Japan if there had ever been a case in which the U.S. Navy had shown Chinese military personnel around an Aegis-equipped destroyer, but the ministry failed to formally inform its U.S. counterpart of Friday's plan
(Nov. 30, 2007)
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