Takaichi Says Past Remarks on 'Exceptionally Allowing Nuclear Weapons Into Japan' Leave 'Room for Consideration'

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (Photo by Yonhap News)

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has suggested that Japan may revise its Three Non-Nuclear Principles, which it has maintained as a national policy: not possessing, producing, or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons.

Speaking on Oct. 14 at the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, Takaichi said there was “room for consideration” of a statement made by a former Japanese cabinet minister that could be interpreted as allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons in exceptional circumstances.

The statement was made in 2010 by then-Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, during the Democratic Party’s time in power.

At the time, Okada responded in the Diet that, if a situation arose in which Japan could not protect its security without allowing U.S. vessels carrying nuclear weapons to make port calls, “the administration would make a decision, staking its fate on it, and explain that decision to the public.”

His point was that, in an emergency such as a war, the government would have to decide whether to allow U.S. vessels carrying nuclear weapons to make port calls in Japan for national security purposes.

Takaichi had previously expressed a similar position before becoming prime minister.

In her book The Study of National Power, published last year, shortly before the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, Takaichi argued that “it is unrealistic to expect the U.S. extended deterrence while continuing to uphold the bans on possessing and producing (nuclear weapons) but also maintaining that they will not be introduced.”

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi backed Takaichi’s remarks in the Diet on Oct. 14, saying, “Compared with the time when former Foreign Minister Okada gave his answer, the severity of the situation has increased overwhelmingly, and various forms of threats have also expanded.”

In her response to the Diet that day, Takaichi declined to specify how the Three Non-Nuclear Principles would be addressed in the three key national security documents that her Cabinet is seeking to revise by the end of the year, with strengthening defense capabilities as their main focus. “I will refrain from prejudging the matter,” she said.

On “nuclear sharing,” under which U.S. nuclear weapons would be deployed in Japan and operated jointly, she offered a general position, saying, “Japan is not currently considering nuclear sharing, and it would not be appropriate.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.