US Nuclear Weapons In Japan
On account of Russiaโ s invasion of Ukraine, Abe suggested that Japan break a long-standing taboo and engage in an active debate on nuclear weapons, including a prospective โnuclear-sharingโ program similar to NATOโs.ย
Chinese officials have criticized Japan over former Prime Minister Shinzo Abeโs call to alleviate the countryโs non-nuclear principles and consider hosting strategic US weapons to boost security amidst rising geopolitical tensions.ย ย
โJapanese politicians have frequently spread fallacies related to Taiwan and even blatantly made false remarks that violate the nationโs three non-nuclear principles,โโฏChinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Tuesday.ย
Those principles includeโฏbansโฏon possessing, producing or permitting the introduction of nuclear arms. Japan, the only country ever to be attacked with nuclear weapons, adopted a pacifist constitution after its crushing defeat in World War II.ย
Although, Abe said in a television interview on Sunday that Japan should no longer consider it.โฏโtabooโโฏto consider having nuclear weapons on its soil. He noted that several NATO members harbour US strategic weapons under nuclear sharing agreements with Washington, adding:โฏโWe need to understand how security is maintained around the world.โย
Abe also called on the United States to commit to military intervention if Taiwan is attacked by China, ending its strategy ofโฏโambiguityโโฏOn the question. A military collision between China and Taiwan would be a security emergency for Japan.ย
Wang said Japanโs leaders must beโฏ
โcautious in words and deeds on the Taiwan issue to stop provoking trouble.โHe addedโWe strongly ask Japan to deeply reflect on its history.โ
No less than 20 million Chinese were killed during World War II. Many of these deaths occurred during massacres of civilians by Japanese troops.ย
โฏA war of aggression launched by japan against China and colonized Taiwan for half a century, committing unspeakable crimes,โโฏWang said. He suggested that some Japanese factionsโฏโdo not come to terms with their defeat and still covet Taiwan.โย
Chinaโs state-run Global Times newspaper said in an editorial on Monday that Japanโs combinationโฏโright-wing madnessโโฏwith the countryโs weapons-making potential would lead to devastating consequences, includingโฏโan escape from the cage militarism that imprisoned him for almost 80 years.โ โฏThe output added,โฏโIt is not only ironic, but also a huge real risk, that a group of people in the only country in the world that has been bombarded by atomic bombs would ask for an invitation to the culprit to deploy nuclear weapons on their own territory.โย
Japanโs Policy On Nuclear Weaponsย ย
On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told lawmakers that the country would not violate its non-nuclear principles. He called the idea of โโa nuclear sharing agreement with the United Statesโฏโunacceptable.โย ย
America dropped atomic bombs on Japanโs Hiroshima and Nagasaki towards World War II. Since then, the country has been campaigning for nuclear disarmament.ย
Accordingโฏto a poll conducted by Nikkei and TV Tokyo, more than three-quarters of respondents were concerned that failure to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine would empower China to attack Taiwan. Japan considers Taiwanโs security to be inextricably connected to its own, and the two regions have a different territorial issues.ย
Despite its pacifist constitution, Japan is primarily reliant on the United States โnuclear umbrellaโ for protection against adversaries such as North Korea and China.โฏDeclassified recordsโฏsuggest that the United States placed nuclear weapons on Okinawa before returning to Japanese control in 1972.ย
Kishida, a Hiroshima native who has made nuclear disarmament his lifeโs effort, is particularly sensitive about the subject. In 2016, he joined Barack Obama on theโฏfirst visitโฏby a sitting US president to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.ย
No Nukesย
Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi rejected the possibility of US nuclear weapons being deployed in the country after former Abe urged the Japanese authorities not to avoid discussing a system similar to the nuclear sharing concept of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).ย
โIf such a system implies that US nuclear weapons will be deployed on our territory even in peacetime, and can be placed on our fighters in case of emergency, it will never be allowed. There is no change in our position in the commitment to the three non-nuclear principles,โ the minister said during the debate in the budget commission.ย
Japanโs three non-nuclear principles imply not possessing, not producing and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons in the country. The nuclear sharing concept, mentioned by Abe, is a strategy of joint use of NATOโs nuclear arsenal by member states.ย
Edited By- Kiran Maharana
Published By- Pawan Rajput
