Given the task definition and input, reply with output. In this task, you're given a statement and three sentences as choices. Your job is to determine the neutral choice based on your inference from the statement and your commonsense knowledge. The neutral choice is a sentence that neither agrees nor disagrees with the statement. Indicate your answer as '1', '2', or '3', corresponding to the choice number of the selected sentence. If sentence X agrees with sentence Y, one's correctness follows from the other one. If sentence X disagrees with sentence Y, they can not be correct at the same time.

Statement: The pace of deregulation and financial-market liberalization are not the only areas in which Japan lags behind Western countries; it appears that Japan's defense, too, is due for a thoroughgoing review. Choices: 1. Japan is not behind on financial-market-liberalization. 2. Japan is ahead of other countries in technology however. 3. Japan is behind several countries regarding its defense.
2