Supporting nuclearisation

Japan has been increasingly becoming a part of the toothless non-nuclear proliferation regime. Ever since the signing of the US-India nuclear deal on May 18, 2005 and resultant developments, Japan has been fast losing its grip over its cardinal principles of anti-nuclearisation adopted after the total devastation of its cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the nuclear bombs dropped by the US on August 6 and 9, 1945.

Notwithstanding that nuclear bombs could vanish the entire humanity and living entities; Japan has decided not to oppose the US-India nuclear deal at a meeting of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to be held at the end of August.

Moreover, Japan has decided that it would not stand in the way of revising the NSG's guidelines. Japan's intention became clear when the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held its meeting on August 1. Such a move would enable the US to transfer nuclear technology and fuel to India, a non-signatory to the NPT and CTBT, and a country that conducted nuclear tests twice in 1974 and 1998. Both times Japan imposed severe economic sanctions against India in violation of the international nuclear treaties. Interestingly, the NSG was formed in response to India's first nuclear testing conducted in 1974.

So much so, Japan would continue to oppose Pakistan's nuclear programme and would keep levelling its pressure over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran to disband their nuclearisation programmes in order to bring them under the anti-nuclear regime. The biggest impact of the changed Japanese anti-nuclear policy would be the invention of 'discrimination' in its policy for the first time. Hitherto Japan has exercised a complete anti-nuclear indiscrimination particularly toward India, Pakistan, DPRK, and Iran. The most likely fear would be the beginning of the new and deadly nuclear proliferation across the world.

In the ultimate analysis, many fear that Japan would be harping once again on the same string of the Meiji slogan of 'rich nation - strong army' that would not be possible without becoming a nuclear power especially when three of Japan's neighbours (Russia, China, and DPRK) became nuclear powers.