"No nuclear sharing." Japan doesn't want American nuclear weapons.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has distanced himself from the idea of concluding a NATO-style nuclear weapons sharing agreement with the United States. During Wednesday's commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the prime minister emphasized that his government has no intention of abandoning its current nuclear weapons policy.

Ishiba stated at a press conference that Japan " firmly upholds and has no plans to revise " the so-called three non-nuclear principles, i.e.

• not having,
• not developing,
• not allowing the presence of nuclear weapons on its territory.

At the same time, he emphasized the need to strengthen American deterrence, which includes nuclear capabilities. "This does not contradict our position on ultimately achieving a world free of nuclear weapons," the prime minister argued, as quoted by the Kyodo news agency.

Even before he took office as head of government in the fall of 2024, Ishiba proposed the creation of an Asian version of NATO and suggested that the organization could consider participating in the American nuclear weapons sharing program in the region as a deterrent against growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.

During Wednesday's conference, the Prime Minister drew attention to the seriousness of the security situation around Japan, noting in particular that there are nuclear-armed states in the region.

On August 6, 1945, in the final stages of World War II, the U.S. Air Force bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. The explosion itself and the radiation effects caused the deaths of 130,000–140,000 Hiroshima residents by the end of 1945.

Krzysztof Pawliszak (PAP)

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