The following is from today's Sankei Sho.
Even seemingly plausible words can be disconcerting.
"It could be a catalyst for spurring nuclear proliferation.
We must be cautious about the argument of nuclear sharing."
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated his rejection of nuclear sharing, in which U.S. nuclear weapons would be deployed and jointly operated in Japan's territory and surrounding waters, in a TV Asahi program on August 16.
The nuclear proliferation that the Prime Minister said is also anyway, and Japan is already surrounded by nuclear powers such as Russia, North Korea, and China from three sides.
It is the U.S. Department of Defense's "Annual Report on China's Military Power" for 2021 states.
"China likely intends to possess at least 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030."
On the 16th, seven Russian naval vessels sailed southward from southern Hokkaido to the coast of Chiba Prefecture, and two Chinese naval ships sailed eastward through the Tsugaru Strait.
On March 13, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that North Korea possesses up to 20 nuclear warheads.
There is no way to cover a nuclear threat under our noses.
At the Asian Security Conference held in Singapore on April 10, Prime Minister Kishida pledged to realize a world without nuclear weapons.
He said, "There must be neither the threat nor the use of nuclear weapons. As the prime minister of the only country to have suffered the atomic bombings of war, I strongly appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons."
Nevertheless, Russia and North Korea have declared that they will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons and will not listen.
Pursuing the idea of nuclear abolition is fine, but the danger that exists now must be deterred in every possible way.
Neither the nuclear sharing that Prime Minister Kishida dismisses out of hand nor the revision of the policy of exclusive defense could have been a deterrent if he had said, "We will consider it," his signature phrase.
Prime Minister Kishida has repeatedly emphasized that he is from Hiroshima and announced that it would hold next year's G7 summit in Hiroshima.
But Hiroshima is not the only A-bombed city.
Why not mention Nagasaki once in a while?
