Report issues red alert over Japanese nuclear ambitions

A report released by two leading Chinese think tanks on disarmament and nuclear strategy has called on the international community to be on high alert against the expanding nuclear ambitions of sections of the Japanese establishment.

The report, Nuclear Ambitions of Japan's Right-Wing Forces: A Serious Threat to World Peace, said other nations must "thwart any dangerous attempt to revive Japanese militarism and to jointly safeguard the postwar international order and the international nuclear non-proliferation regime".

The report was issued by the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association (CACDA) and the China Institute of Nuclear Industry Strategy (CINIS) on Thursday.

Experts with the two think tanks noted that recent months have seen a number of dangerous moves by Tokyo, with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi implying the possibility of revising the country's three non-nuclear principles.

Last month, an unnamed senior official within Japan's Cabinet even floated the idea that Japan should possess its own nuclear weapons.

Dai Huaicheng, secretary-general of CACDA, said, "These dangerous attempts, closely aligned with the inflated ambitions to break free from international order, revive militarism and speed up re-militarization, are by no means isolated incidents or personal views."

Japan, by virtue of its defeat in World War II and as a non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), "must fully abide by the provisions of not manufacturing or acquiring nuclear weapons, and not receiving nuclear weapons or controlling such weapons", Dai added.

The report made 10 recommendations, including urging the Japanese government to abide by the country's three non-nuclear principles, as well calling on the 2026 NPT Review Conference to carefully consider the matter.

The report also urged the International Atomic Energy Association to strengthen its checks on Japan's nuclear material and activities, and called on relevant countries to ensure any civil nuclear cooperation remains exclusively for peaceful purposes.

Luo Qingping, chairman of CINIS, said the international nuclear non-proliferation regime is an important part of the post-war international order.

Attempts by right-wing forces in Japan to revise the three non-nuclear principles or to advocate possessing nuclear weapons "gravely challenges the authority and effectiveness of the NPT, undermining the efforts of upholding the international nuclear non-proliferation regime", he said.