The US and Japan have been discussing a potential scenario in which the US military would use nuclear weapons in the event of a conflict in East Asia, Kyodo News reported on July 26.
Japan is the only country in the world that has suffered a nuclear attack when the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, but Tokyo is now considered to be under the US nuclear umbrella.
The Kyodo report said the discussions on the use of US nuclear weapons were held as part of Washington and Tokyo’s “extended deterrence” talks, which began in 2010. The report said that as part of the talks in recent years, the two sides “have held multiple tabletop exercises to strategize a scenario in which a conflict broke out in East Asia and the United States is pressured to use nuclear weapons.”
The discussions involved reviewing how to coordinate on a nuclear attack and how to deal with certain issues it will create, including the management of public opinion. The US has a mutual defense treaty with Japan, under which it has committed to defending Japanese territory if it comes under attack.
Experts told The South China Morning Post that a stronger commitment regarding the US’s nuclear umbrella could ease some Japanese concerns about supporting the defense of Taiwan if it’s attacked by China. US officials have been pressing both Japan and Australia to make commitments on what they would do in the event of a war with China over Taiwan.
The nuclear talks are also sure to anger China, which has expressed concern about the news. “As a country that has suffered nuclear bombings, Japan should have a deep understanding that nuclear war must not be fought,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said on Wednesday.
Zhang added that there were elements in Japan who wanted to upgrade the US extended deterrence posture and are considering nuclear sharing, an arrangement the US has with several of its NATO allies. “This is an extremely dangerous trend,” he added.
While the US still maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity over whether it would intervene if China attacked Taiwan, the US military has been openly planning for a future conflict with China despite the risk of nuclear war.
