THE Japanese Foreign Ministry has categorically denied that Japan has either the will or the ability to possess nuclear weapons.
Responding to a London Sunday Times article carried in yesterday's South China Morning Post, asserting that Japan has acquired all the parts necessary for manufacturing a nuclear weapon, the Gaimusho issued a short statement denying the charge.
''Japan has non-nuclear principles'' the statement said, ''we will not have nuclear weapons''.
''Activities in Japan in relation to atomic energy are in accordance with the Japanese basic law that stipulates that such [atomic energy] is only used for peaceful purposes.
''Therefore we do not have specialised knowledge on possessing nuclear weapons.'' A Foreign Ministry spokesman additionally pointed out that nuclear technology for energy and for weapons was two separate things.
Curiously, given the sensitivity of this issue, one year before the 50th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese press chose to ignore the Sunday Times report.
