China has reacted angrily to a call by former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe for Tokyo to consider hosting US nuclear weapons in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising concern over Chinese aggression toward Taiwan.
Abe, who presided over record defense budgets before resigning in 2020, said Japan should cast off taboos surrounding its possession of nuclear weapons following the outbreak of war in Europe.
“In NATO, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy take part in nuclear sharing, hosting American nuclear weapons,” Abe said in a TV interview, Nikkei Asia reported. “We need to understand how security is maintained around the world and not consider it taboo to have an open discussion. We should firmly consider various options when we talk about how we can protect Japan and the lives of its people in this reality.”
Photo: Reuters
Japan, the only nation to have been attacked with nuclear weapons, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is part of the US nuclear umbrella, but has for decades adhered to three non-nuclear principles — that it will not produce or possess nuclear weapons or allow them on its territory.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida quickly rejected Abe’s call for a debate on the nuclear-sharing option.
“It is unacceptable given our country’s stance of maintaining the three non-nuclear principles,” Kishida, who represents a constituency in Hiroshima, told lawmakers this week.
“Japanese politicians have frequently spread fallacies related to Taiwan and even blatantly made false remarks that violate the nation’s three non-nuclear principles,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told reporters in Beijing.
“We strongly ask Japan to deeply reflect on its history,” Wang said, adding that Tokyo should “be cautious in words and deeds on the Taiwan issue to stop provoking trouble.”
Abe, a conservative whose lifelong political ambition is to revise Japan’s “pacifist” constitution, said any conflict involving China and Taiwan would also constitute an emergency for Japan.
He called on the US to end its “ambiguity” on the defense of Taiwan, noting that it is just 110km from Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost inhabited island.
“The US takes a strategy of ambiguity, meaning it may or may not intervene militarily if Taiwan is attacked,” Abe said. “By showing it may intervene, it keeps China in check, but by leaving open the possibility that it may not intervene, it makes sure that the Taiwanese forces for independence do not get out of control.”
Abe, leader of the biggest faction in Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has made several hawkish interventions on security policy that enjoy support inside the party, but could provoke a backlash among voters nervous about Japan’s potential involvement in regional conflicts.
China’s state-run Global Times accused Abe of attempting to “unlock” Japanese militarism.
“It is not only ironic, but also a huge real risk, that a group of people in the only country in the world that was bombed by atomic bombs would call for an invitation to the culprit to deploy nuclear weapons in their own territory,” it said in an editorial.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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