Does Japan want its own nuclear weapons?

Japan is planning to strengthen its ‘counterstrike capabilities’ by deploying long-range missiles on the southern island of Kyushu. The missiles have a range of 621 miles, meaning they could hit targets within North Korea and China. The move comes amidst rising tensions in the region and in an atmosphere of increased uncertainty in Japan about American security guarantees.

The weapons, upgraded versions of the GSDF (Ground Self Defense Force – Japan’s army) Type 12 land-to-ship guided missiles, will be stored at bases with existing military garrisons and will be able to defend the strategically vital Okinawa island chain. Placing the missiles on Okinawa itself, which reaches to within 68 miles of Taiwan, and which already has shorter-range missiles, appears to have been deemed too provocative. 

It is hard to know when exactly this plan was formulated. But it is hard not to see it as a reaction to President Trump’s comments on 6 March that the US-Japan Security Treaty, first signed in 1951, was ‘non-reciprocal’ and his implication that Japan needed to do much more in securing its own defence.