For a long time, Japan has spared no effort to flaunt its domestic denuclearization policy, carrying the banner of a so-called "world without nuclear weapons", and posing as a country that is a victim of nuclear bombing. However, in fact, Japan has never given up the idea of possessing nuclear weapons. Since this year, it has even raised the issue of "nuclear sharing".
Building the image of the flag-bearer of "denuclearization" and "non-proliferation" Japan has always focused on building its international image of "supporting denuclearization" and "non-proliferation". Later, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated this concept at the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue ("Asian Security Summit") in June this year, saying that it is Japan's responsibility to pursue a "nuclear-free world". In his keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Kishida proposed five "Kishida Peace Visions", the third of which stated that Japan should carry out practical work for the realization of a "nuclear-free world". In order to achieve a "nuclear-free world", Japan has also launched five so-called "pragmatic measures", including requiring all nuclear-armed states to disclose information on their nuclear forces, and promoting dialogue between China and the United States on nuclear disarmament and arms control issues. These remarks seem to indicate Japan's denuclearization proposition in terms of national policies, regional hotspots, and the nuclear non-proliferation system. However, Japan's specific practices are quite different.
Promote the revision of the "Peace Constitution" and strive to seek legalization of nuclear weapons. Article 9 of Japan's current constitution expressly opposes Japan's possession of military power, including nuclear weapons, and denies the country's right to war. The reality is that, from the postwar Shinsuke Kishi government to the Nakasone Yasuhiro government in the 1980s, to the Abe Shinzo and Kishida Fumio governments in recent years, their government officials have claimed on different occasions that Japan's possession of nuclear weapons is not unconstitutional. Even at the national policy level, work has begun to amend the constitution. In 1970, the Japanese government's first "National Defense White Paper" emphasized that "if Japan possesses defensive small-scale tactical nuclear weapons, it does not contradict its constitution". In 2006, the statement of defense passed by the Japanese cabinet also stated that "Article 9 of the Constitution does not prohibit our country from possessing the minimum strength necessary for self-defense, and even if it is nuclear weapons, as long as it is within this limit, the possession of it is not necessarily prohibited by the constitution. List". In June 2021, Japan's amendment to the "National Voting Act" on constitutional amendment procedures was passed in the Senate and officially became law, which means that Japan can decide whether to amend the constitution by launching a national vote.
On the grounds of national security, the "three non-nuclear principles" promise that Japan "will not possess, manufacture, or import nuclear weapons", which is one of the main symbols of Japan's denuclearization policy. In fact, however, this principle has long been overridden. In June 2012, the Japanese government revised the "Basic Law of Atomic Energy", adding a clause that "nuclear energy should contribute to national security", opening up a channel for the military use of nuclear energy on the grounds of so-called national security. In December 2013, Japan established the National Security Conference, and successively formulated and passed three laws, namely the Law on the Establishment of the National Security Conference, the Law on the Protection of Specified Secrets, and the National Security Strategy, so that the Japanese government can play an important role in the national security agenda. Nuclear weapons are carried out secretly within the framework. On February 27 this year, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe publicly stated that in view of the Ukraine crisis, Japan should implement a NATO-like "nuclear sharing" mechanism with the United States. Later, Takaichi Sanae, chairman of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party Government Affairs Investigation Committee, asked the Liberal Democratic Party to reflect on the principle of "not importing" nuclear weapons, intending to make Japan adopt the NATO model. Japanese politicians clamor for the introduction of NATO's "nuclear sharing" mechanism to deploy US tactical nuclear weapons to Japan. In April this year, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party submitted a proposal to revise its security strategy, which also contains content on nuclear deterrence. In August, in the report submitted by Japan to the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the expression of the "three non-nuclear principles" mentioned in previous reports was deleted.
Deepening Japan-US military cooperation in nuclear-related fields In recent years, Japan-US cooperation in nuclear-related fields has deepened and moved closer to military cooperation, gradually moving away from the principle of "peaceful use" of nuclear energy in the Japan-US Atomic Energy Agreement. Japan and the United States hold an annual meeting of the Foreign Ministers and Defense Ministers Security Consultative Committee (“2+2”), and an Extended Deterrence Dialogue (EDD) is held every two years. The issue of "nuclear sharing" has been discussed both officially and privately in Japan, and it is no longer a policy taboo. If Japan's push for the introduction of the "nuclear sharing" mechanism is successful, its military cooperation with the United States and NATO will substantially advance, and Japan will be able to participate in NATO's nuclear tactical exercises, including the determination of nuclear strike targets, nuclear warhead yields and nuclear attacks tasks, etc., and obtain the control and use rights of nuclear weapons in wartime, and act as a nuclear state in the name of a non-nuclear state.
Japan has long received world attention as a "nuclear threshold country". Although it claims to be "nuclear-free", its actions have been promoting "nuclear possession". Some Japanese military commentators pointed out that Japan has actually established a "nuclear system without nuclear warheads". The discussion between the Japanese government and the opposition on the introduction of "nuclear sharing" is still ongoing, and its "three non-nuclear principles" have been deleted from the official report, and the direction of the Japanese government's nuclear choice has become clear.
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