TOKYO, June 3: China reacted angrily on Monday after Japan’s top government spokesman hinted that the only nation to suffer a nuclear attack could abandon its hallowed ban on nuclear weapons.
The fuss was the latest headache for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, struggling to enact key laws amid a precipitous slide in his public support due to doubts over his leadership and commitment to reform.
The furore threatened to broaden into a diplomatic row after China blasted the comments. Ties between the two Asian neighbours were strained last month over North Korean asylum seekers seized by Chinese police from a Japanese consulate.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference that he was responsible for remarks attributed to a senior official that Tokyo could review its ban on nuclear arms.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said the comments violated Japan’s promises to the international community, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
“At the present time when peace and development have become the main themes of the times and continued progress is being made in international nuclear disarmament, it is shocking to hear remarks like this from a senior Japanese official,” Kong said.
LATEST HEADACHE: Fukuda downplayed his comments, saying: “I only said there is a chance the government could take another look at the three non-nuclear principles in the future.
“There is absolutely no chance that this cabinet will discuss revising these principles.”
Opposition parties, however, called for Fukuda’s head and boycotted parliamentary debate on key legislation.
Conservative politicians have become more outspoken in challenging Japan’s postwar pacifism, but fears over domestic and diplomatic fallout have meant they are usually forced to retract suggestions Japan should drop its ban on nuclear weapons.—Reuters
