The Chinese government called on Japanese authorities this Friday to respect the country’s anti-nuclear principles, as well as its international obligations, and warned that they must not “play with fire” regarding nuclear armament.
This comes after a survey showed broad support among the Japanese population to maintain restrictions on such weapons.
The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, spoke this way during a press conference when asked about the results of a survey by the Japan Public Opinion Research Association on nuclear policy.
According to the survey, reported by the Chinese news agency Xinhua, 76% of Japanese support the continuation of the so-called “three non-nuclear principles”, which establish that Japan will neither produce nor allow the introduction of nuclear weapons on its territory.
Likewise, 77% of respondents oppose their nation adopting a “nuclear sharing” system with the United States, an arrangement that would allow Washington to deploy nuclear weapons on Japanese soil.
For Lin, these figures show an “overwhelming and clear” opposition from Japanese society to possessing nuclear weapons and highlight the value the population places on the peace and prosperity achieved at a high historical cost.
In this context, the spokesperson urged Japanese authorities to “listen to the voice of the people” and fulfill their commitments under International Law, including the duty not to accept, manufacture, possess, or proliferate nuclear weapons.
Lin also accused sectors of the current Japanese government of promoting the so-called “nuclear option” and trying to question the three non-nuclear principles, something that, in his view, reflects the increasing political and military aspirations of the country’s conservative forces.
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According to the spokesperson, these initiatives put the future of the Japanese population at risk and contradict the majority rejection by society of nuclear proliferation. “The popular will must not be challenged,” he warned.
Thus, China asked Tokyo not to “misinterpret the historical trend” again and to avoid taking measures contrary to the Japanese population’s desire to preserve peace.
These statements come just days after Beijing criticized Japan’s new Defense White Paper – the annual document of its Ministry of Defense – which it accused of exaggerating the so-called “Chinese threat” and justifying the acceleration of Japan’s military strengthening.
Lin himself pointed out midweek that Japan continued advancing in its remilitarization despite its militaristic past and questioned the development of long-range offensive capabilities and new forms of warfare contemplated in its defense strategy.
China considers that this evolution poses a risk to regional stability and urged Japan to learn lessons from its past and abandon what Beijing considers a path of military expansion.
Although these statements did not directly refer to Japanese nuclear policy, they are part of the same framework of China’s criticisms of Japan’s military strengthening process and a possible questioning of the restrictions Tokyo has maintained for decades regarding nuclear matters.
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