Anti-war campaigners call on the Welsh Government to pull out of arms fair
Abby Neve
Anti-war campaigners have called on the Welsh Government to pull out of a major international arms fair in Japan after it was advertised as an exhibitor at the event.
The website for the DSEI Japan, an international defence event, lists the Welsh Government as one of their exhibiting countries.
Adam Johannes, the Joint Secretary of The Cardiff Stop the War Coalition, said:
“The new Welsh Government has a simple choice: stop turning up at arms fairs. We are calling on it to state plainly that it will never attend another DSEI arms fair, whether in London or Japan, and that it is abandoning the grubby habits of the previous Welsh Labour administration.”
DSEI Japan 2027 is described by the organisers as the “only large-scale, fully integrated defence event in the country, bringing together the global defence industry and Japan’s defence community.” It will take place between 28-30 April 2027 in Chiba, Japan.
The event is part of the controversial biennial trade show (DSEI) in London and is widely regarded as the world’s biggest arms fair.
There are currently more than 30 countries listed as exhibitors as the event, as well as more than 13,000 attendees registered, according to the DSEI website.
The previous Welsh Government also came under fire back in 2021 from Plaid Cymru who criticised the Welsh Labour government for spending public money on “this contemptible event”.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has repeatedly called for the cancellation of this event.
A representative from the Welsh Government responded:
“There will be no direct Welsh Government representation at DSEI Japan 2027. We will continue to engage with the defence, security and national resilience sectors to support the thousands of high-tech, well-paid jobs in Wales, while promoting respect for human rights and international law.”
“An ethical defence framework is being developed, informed by discussions with Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive counterparts, and will guide future engagement with the sector.”
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PC should not be pushing for WG to attend and pull out from this fair. Any company that supplies arms to an evil genocidal zionist government is not one we should be associated with here in lovely Wales.
Nothing wrong with zionism. Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself. But yes we should not sell arms to Russia, North Korea, the world’s many Islamist regimes etc.
Putin says “Hi!”
Trump says “Hi!”
Xi is waiting to say “Hi!
40bn sector for the UK or similar. Let’s leave all that investment and skilled jobs for England, Scotland and NI eh Adam?Why don’t we all just say no to business full stop and go back to tilling the earth in big communes? Oh and nice work on getting that other arms fair kicked out of Cardiff to England – their hotels, workers, restaurants etc can all benefit instead. Presume we also stop supporting Ukraine too? If the WG is not at the Japan show in droves to try and attract ANY investment into our backward economy then that is a… Read more »
Being a governmet is grubby,its inevitable.
Big difference between talking to companies and doing deals with them.