Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian

Responding to reports that 82 Japanese local assemblies have called on the Takaichi government to uphold or legally codify the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, while coalition partner Japan Innovation Party has pushed for a review, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told the Global Times that the local appeals reflect a grassroots desire for peace. The ruling authorities' push to abandon the Peace Constitution and speed up remilitarization, he said, is clearly out of step with public sentiment, and Japan should not disregard the prevailing trend on nuclear issues.

Since Sanae Takaichi came to power, Japan's right-wing forces have laid bare their ambition to revive militarism, break the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and pursue an independent nuclear arsenal, charging recklessly down the wrong path, Lin said. 

If Japan's ruling authorities continue to misjudge the situation on nuclear issues and stubbornly push for revising the Three Non-Nuclear Principles as well as deployment of allied nuclear weapons in Japan, this will not only constitute a grave provocation to the post-WWII international order and the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, but also run counter to Japan's own peace pledges and the prevailing public opinion within Japan. Japan will inevitably pay a heavy price in the end, the spokesperson added.

Japan is a non-nuclear-weapon state party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Its international legal obligation to not receive, manufacture, acquire or transfer nuclear weapons is indisputable and unshirkable, leaving Japan no room for bargaining, Lin continued. Takaichi reaffirmed adherence to the Three Non-Nuclear Principles last February, and Japanese delegates to the NPT Review Conference in May repeatedly confirmed that Japan would not shift its stance on the principles. These pledges still ring fresh, and the international community is watching closely.

China calls on the international community and all peace-loving people in Japan to urge Japan's ruling authorities to earnestly fulfill its obligations under the NPT, completely abandon its remilitarization and nuclear ambitions, halt efforts to revise the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, cease so-called extended deterrence cooperation with other countries, commit to not seeking the introduction of allied nuclear weapons, and immediately take effective measures to address the severe imbalance between supply and demand of sensitive nuclear materials, he said. 

"Japan must win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community through concrete actions," Lin added.

Global Times