Japan Considers Writing an Exception to Its Non-Nuclear Principles Into the New Security Strategy: Allowing Nuclear Weapons In During an Emergency
Tokyo — The Japanese government is considering explicitly stating an exception to its three non-nuclear principles in the National Security Strategy and related security documents to be updated by the end of this year: that in an emergency, nuclear weapons would be allowed to be brought into Japan, Kyodo News reported on November 5, citing a source familiar with the matter.
The three principles — not possessing, not producing and not allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons — have long been a national credo for Japan, the only country to have suffered atomic bombings. The exception under discussion traces to a 2010 Diet statement by then Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, who said that whether to allow nuclear weapons in during an emergency would be a judgment for the government of the day; successive governments, including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's, have endorsed that position.
According to the report, the government is leaning toward stating the exception explicitly in the strategy document rather than revising the principles themselves, in order to enhance the effectiveness of U.S. nuclear deterrence protecting Japan. Before becoming prime minister, Takaichi expressed doubts about the non-introduction principle, saying it could complicate port calls by nuclear-armed U.S. vessels and weaken the credibility of extended deterrence in a contingency. Last month she told a Diet committee there was "room for consideration" regarding how the security documents should address extended deterrence and Okada's remarks. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said in October that the government needed to consider how other countries might perceive explicitly writing Okada's remarks into the documents.
Japan's three security documents are due to be updated by the end of the year. Writing the exception into an official document would give a position long held only in Diet testimony the backing of a national strategy for the first time, and is expected to fuel fresh debate in Japan.
Related: Defense Minister Koizumi Again Urges Debate on Adjusting the Three Non-Nuclear Principles
(Source: Kyodo News)
Source: Kyodo News
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：日本国会议事堂。日本政府正考虑在年底更新的安保战略文件中明记无核三原则的例外情形。CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The National Diet Building in Tokyo. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
