Shigeru Ishiba
Minister of States for Defense
LDP member Shigeru Ishiba was named Japanese Minister of State for Defense in September 2002. He was first elected to the Diet in July 1986. The following is excerpted from Minister Ishiba’s presentation titled Regional Perspectives on Asia-Pacific Security at the 2nd International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia Security Conference on May 31, 2003. At present, my prime task is to have the emergency legislation bills now under deliberation in the Upper House successfully pass. Those bills to allow Self-Defense Forces to respond to armed attacks more effectively under civilian control were approved by the Lower House with about 90…
