Japan's Diet approves law on space use

TOKYO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Diet approved a law on general principles
for the use of space Wednesday, allowing non-aggressive military use of space
Wednesday and overturning a decades-old policy of limiting space development to
peaceful uses.

Under the law, the use and exploitation of space should be conducted to
serve the security of Japan, relaxing the principle of nonmilitary use based on
a parliamentary resolution in 1969 under the war-renouncing Constitution.

Analysts say that the new law changes Japan's policy of space use to
"non-aggression" from "non-military" and would allow Japan's military to launch
its own surveillance satellites and an early-warning
satellite.