Shinzo Abe’s government insists Japanese constitution does not explicitly prohibit nuclear weapons

The government of Shinzo Abe has stated that there is nothing in the nation’s Constitution that explicitly forbids Japan from possessing or using nuclear weapons.

The government’s position on the issue was made clear in a written response to a question posed by two opposition politicians in the Diet on Friday. And although the present government interprets Article 9 of the war-renouncing Constitution as not banning Japan from having a nuclear deterrent, it emphasised in the written response that the government “firmly maintains a policy principle that it does not possess nuclear weapons of any type under the three non-nuclear principles”.

Analysts point out that Abe’s reading of the Constitution is actually consistent with the previous government’s interpretation, although the revelation has caused headlines in some left-of-centre newspapers and surprise among the majority of the public.

In a statement in the Diet in 1978, Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda said Article 9 does not “absolutely prohibit” Japan from having nuclear weapons, as long as they are “limited to the minimum necessary level”, the Asahi newspaper reported.

That comment had largely been forgotten until Yusuke Yokobatake, the director general of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, stated at a meeting of the Upper House Budget Committee on March 18 that the Constitution does not ban Japan from using nuclear weapons. That comment was seized upon by the opposition and led to questions to the prime minister.

“I would assume this has come as something of a surprise to the Japanese public,” said Jun Okumura, a visiting scholar at the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs. “I was dimly aware in my youth that there had been serious talks about Japan having nuclear weapons, under the administration of Eisaku Sato in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.