Tokyo must avoid seeking nuclear weapons and "stop plunging further down the wrong path," Beijing says

China has issued a warning to Japan after a senior official reportedly suggested the country should acquire nuclear weapons, stating that such a move would once "again bring disaster to the world."  

An unnamed senior adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reportedly argued late last week that Tokyo's long-standing reliance on the US nuclear arsenal may no longer be fully reliable. The country should potentially reevaluate its post-WWII non-nuclear policies and pursue its own deterrence, the official suggested, as cited by local media.  

The Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the reported nuclear talk, calling it yet another example of "how Japanese right-wing forces are trying to 'remilitarize' and 'rearm' Japan." Beijing urged Tokyo to "not seek to challenge the postwar international order and stop plunging further down the wrong path." 

"Some forces inside Japan have not only failed to reflect on Japan's history of aggression but also been extremely unhappy about the postwar international arrangement. If the right-wing forces in Japan are left free to develop powerful offensive weapons, or even possess nuclear weapons, it will again bring disaster to the world," the ministry said in a statement.

Beijing's warning echoed statements made by other neighbors of Japan in the wake of the reported nuclear weaponry remarks. North Korea has said that allowing Japan to acquire nuclear weapons would result in "a great disaster," while Russia suggested that the drift away from Tokyo's non-nuclear stance would negatively impact security in Northeast Asia and provoke responses from countries "threatened by that militarization." 

The reported remarks have also been poorly received within Japan, which remains the only nation that has ever been struck with nuclear weapons. The statements drew criticism from both the ruling and opposition parties, as well as the atomic bomb survivors group Nihon Hidankyo. 

Shortly after the remarks were circulated by the media, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara reaffirmed the country's commitment to maintain its non-nuclear status, stating that there were no policy changes in this regard. Tokyo will continue pursuing measures "to achieve a world without nuclear weapons," he added.