China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties.
In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo.
The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace.
Photo: Reuters
While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was more explicit.
Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other senior officials had revealed their ambitions by seeking to revise the three non-nuclear principles, discussing the potential introduction of nuclear-powered submarines and calling for boosting “extended deterrence.”
“Such moves of the Japanese side form a grave challenge to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime based on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the postwar international order, and have been met with strong opposition from the international community and people from various sectors within Japan,” Mao said.
Asked about China’s claims regarding Japan’s nuclear ambitions, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said: “I’d like to state that there is absolutely no truth to such claims.”
The three nonnuclear principles refers to Japan’s long-standing commitment to not possess, produce or permit the entry of nuclear weapons.
Takaichi has said her government abides by the principles, but has not been clear on whether that commitment would remain unchanged as the government seeks to overhaul its national defense strategy.
Amid growing concerns about Beijing’s own military buildup, and the possibility that China would attack Taiwan, Japan in 2022 launched a five-year, ￥43 trillion (US$272.84 billion) defense buildup aiming to roughly double defense spending to 2 percent of GDP.
Takaichi has accelerated that spending goal to the 2025 fiscal year, while Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi has reportedly said the nation needs to discuss whether to develop nuclear-powered submarines.
Ties between Asia’s top economies deteriorated late last year after Takaichi remarked that if military force were used in a Taiwan conflict, it could be a “survival-threatening situation” for her nation. That classification would provide a legal justification for Japan to deploy its military to help defend friendly nations.
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense accused Japan of “brazenly exporting lethal weaponry” and going against international sentiment by advocating for the possession of nuclear weapons.
Japanese leaders have consistently said the country would not seek atomic weapons.
Still, Itsunori Onodera, the ruling party’s head of research on security, has said his nation should not shy away from discussing nuclear arms, after it was reported another lawmaker expressed a personal opinion in favor of such weaponry.
Even as Beijing stepped up its criticism, an opinion survey published yesterday found that China’s military is the biggest security concern for Japanese people.
More than 68 percent of respondents picked China as a concern, placing it ahead of North Korea for the first time since 2015.
The survey of views on defense issues was carried out in November and December last year. A record 45 percent of respondents said the armed forces should be bolstered, but they were not asked whether Japan should acquire nuclear weapons.
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