BRUSSELS ¨C Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi suggested Wednesday that Japan needs to promote discussions on future national security policies, including nuclear deterrence, amid the severe security environment.
¡°Unless discussions are held without any taboos, no country can any longer ensure its own security on its own,¡± Koizumi told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels. ¡°I think this is only natural.¡±
¡°France is changing its nuclear policy (toward expanding its nuclear deterrent to other European countries) and is seeking to demonstrate new developments, including joint exercises with Germany,¡± he said.
He underlined the need for countries to cooperate in response to the changing security environment.
In a webcast Friday, Koizumi expressed the view that nuclear issues are an unavoidable topic.
Regarding Japan¡¯s three nonnuclear principles of not possessing or making nuclear weapons or allowing them to be brought into the country, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expressed her intention to discuss a review at a parliamentary meeting on July 6.
The Japan Innovation Party, the coalition partner of Takaichi¡¯s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has also called for a review of the principle of not allowing nuclear arms to be brought into Japan, while seeking to introduce nuclear submarines in its proposal to revise the country¡¯s three security-related documents.
Meanwhile, Koizumi held talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday, reaffirming that the security of the Indo-Pacific region and that of the Euro-Atlantic region are inseparable in light of recent firing drills by a Chinese naval vessel within Japan¡¯s exclusive economic zone and a live-fire exercise by a Russian naval ship near the English Channel.
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