By Zhao Xuelin

Recently, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi stated that Japan should discuss policies related to nuclear weapons without any taboos. Such remarks by an incumbent Japanese defense chief are extremely rare in the country's post-war history. They are highly provocative and dangerous, fully exposing the ruling authorities' ambition to break through the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and challenge the post-war international order.

Japan has long harbored the ambition to acquire nuclear weapons. In 2013, Japan's leading right-wing figure Toshio Tamogami, a former chief of staff of Japan's Air Self-Defense Force, laid out a detailed "three-phase, eight-step" strategy for the country to achieve independent nuclear armament within 20 years in his book Japan's Nuclear Armament Plan. Moreover, Japan has long produced and stockpiled plutonium far exceeding the actual needs of its civilian nuclear energy program, theoretically giving it the capacity to produce a large number of nuclear warheads and achieve a "nuclear breakout" in a short period of time. Today, Japan is an internationally recognized nuclear threshold state and remains the only non-nuclear-weapon state party that possesses reprocessing technology and the capability to extract weapons-grade plutonium under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

For decades, successive Japanese governments have publicly claimed to adhere to the Three Non-Nuclear Principles. However, in recent years, Japan's words and actions on the issue of nuclear weapons have become increasingly alarming. Since Sanae Takaichi assumed office as prime minister, the Japanese government has sought to strengthen cooperation on so-called "extended deterrence", attempted to develop nuclear-powered submarines, pursued so-called "nuclear sharing" arrangements, plotted to redeploy nuclear weapons in Japan, and condoned Japan's right-wing forces in advocating independent nuclear armament. Its nuclear ambitions have become increasingly self-evident. The gradual loosening of nuclear-related constraints, together with comprehensive military expansion, is of a piece with Japan's ambition to accelerate "re-militarization" and revive militarism, posing a real threat to regional peace and stability.

The moves and rhetoric in support of nuclear armament by Japan's right-wing forces seriously violate the international legal obligations Japan is required to fulfill. As a non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the NPT, Japan must fulfill its international legal obligations not to receive, manufacture, acquire, or transfer nuclear weapons. Yet while long portraying itself internationally as a "victim of the atomic bombings", Japan has repeatedly invoked so-called "external threats" and "defense" as a pretext to breach the constraints imposed by its Constitution, international law and domestic legislation, thereby challenging the post-war international order and the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.

If the ruling authorities in Japan continue to misjudge the situation and stubbornly push to revise the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and introduce nuclear weapons from its allies for deployment in Japan, they will not only seriously provoke the post-war international order and the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, but also run counter to Japan's own commitment to peace, and will ultimately pay a heavy price.

The Japanese right wing's growing nuclear ambitions are a dangerous sign that Japan's neo-militarism is gaining momentum, posing a serious threat to world peace and stability. All peace-loving countries and peoples have the responsibility and obligation to join hands to resolutely thwart any attempts to revive Japanese militarism, jointly safeguard the nuclear non-proliferation regime, and uphold international peace and security.

(The author is a senior engineer at the CNNC Strategic Planning and Research Institute)

Editor's note: Originally published on people.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.