‘We Should Not Possess These Weapons’

The man who just stepped down as Japan’s defense minister acknowledges that his nation has the ability to produce nuclear weapons, but he says that for political and diplomatic reasons it will never acquire them.

“I can understand, looking at Japan from the outside, when you look at its economic, technical and manufacturing capabilities, that it’s certainly possible for Japan to possess these weapons very quickly,” said Kazuo Aichi, who served until last month as defense minister in the government of former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa. “So I can understand why, from the outside, people would think Japan may do this. . . .

“We do have the capabilities, and it’s not helpful for us to deny those capabilities. We certainly do,” Aichi said in an interview during a visit to Washington last week.

He said, however, that the role of Japanese politicians is to impress upon the Japanese people, including younger Japanese, and the rest of the world the fact that “we should not possess these weapons.”

“I can’t think of any situation in which Japan would possess its own nuclear weapons,” said Aichi, who was replaced as defense minister last month in a Cabinet reshuffle but is still a member of Japan’s House of Representatives.

“You have to realize the domestic political situation would make it very difficult, if not impossible, (for Japan) to possess these weapons. But probably more importantly, just looking at basic national self-interest, it would not pay for Japan to possess these weapons.

“Imagine if we went ahead and possessed these weapons; it would act as a wedge separating us from most other Asian nations. . . . Also, throughout the world, everybody would begin to wonder what Japan is up to, would see it as a threat, and that would just add to this whole trend of the proliferation of nuclear weapons.”