Japan warned against changing non-nuclear principles

China on Monday urged the Japanese authorities not to defy public opinion or persist in what it described as a dangerous push toward remilitarization and nuclear armament.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian made the remarks at a regular news conference after a reporter noted that 82 local assemblies in Japan, including those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, had reportedly submitted statements to the central government or the Diet calling for the country's Three Non-Nuclear Principles to be upheld or written into law.

The Japan Innovation Party, a member of the governing coalition, had earlier recommended that the government discuss revising the principles, according to the reports.

Lin said the strong calls from Japanese local assemblies reflected the public's desire for peace and showed that moves by Japanese authorities to depart from its pacifist Constitution and accelerate remilitarization were deeply unpopular.

"The Japanese authorities must not act willfully on the nuclear issue or go against the tide of history," he said.

He warned that any attempt to revise the principles or allow the deployment of an ally's nuclear weapons in Japan would constitute a serious provocation against the postwar international order and the global nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Such moves would also violate Japan's own commitments to peace and run counter to broad public opinion at home, and Japan would ultimately pay a heavy price, he said.

As a non-nuclear-weapon state party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Japan has indisputable international legal obligations not to receive, manufacture, possess or proliferate nuclear weapons, Lin said, adding that there was no room for bargaining on those obligations.

China called on the international community and all peace-loving people in Japan to urge the Japanese authorities to fulfill their obligations to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, abandon attempts at remilitarization and nuclear armament, and stop seeking revisions to the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, Lin said.

Japan should also end so-called extended deterrence cooperation with other countries, pledge not to introduce an ally's nuclear weapons, immediately take effective steps to address the serious imbalance between the supply of and demand for sensitive nuclear materials, and take concrete actions to earn the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community, he added.