China rattled by calls for Japan to host US N-weapons

BEIJING: China has reacted angrily to calls by Japan’s influential former 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 towards Taiwan.

Abe, who presided over record defence 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 on Tuesday, according to Nikkei Asia. “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.” Japan, the only country to have been attacked with nuclear weapons, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is part of the US nuclear umbrella but has for decade adhered to the three non-nuclear principles – that it will not produce or possess nuclear weapons or allow them on its territory.

“It is unacceptable given our country’s stance of maintaining the three non-nuclear principles,” Kishida, who represents a constituency in Hiroshima, told MPs this week. Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters in Beijing: “Japanese politicians have frequently spread fallacies related to Taiwan and even blatantly made false remarks that violate the nation’s three non-nuclear principles.