Transportation of nuke weapons not ruled out by security bills: Japan's defense chief

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Wednesday at the Diet, the legislature, that the government-proposed security bills would not rule out the transportation of nuclear weapons for foreign countries by Japanese Self Defense Forces, triggering strong criticism from opposition lawmakers immediately.

During deliberations on the legislation in a panel session of the House of Councillors, the upper house, Nakatani said, "The letter of the legislation is not ruling out the transportation of nuclear weapons in logistics support for foreign countries."

Though the hawkish politician quickly added that such situation was in reality impossible because of Japan's long-standing policy of not possessing or producing nuclear arms, his remarks immediately sparked new row over the controversial security bills.

Shinkun Haku, an lawmaker from the major opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) who questioned the ministers during the panel session, said the government should scrap the legislation which would pave the way for the SDF to carry nuclear arms.

He also demanded that Nakatani apologize for the remarks, which came one day ahead of the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Abe's cabinet adopted a resolution last July by reinterpreting the pacifist constitution to lift the ban on Japan's exercise of collective self-defense right.

It hoped the security-related bills will get approval from the Diet during the current session, which will actually allow the implementation of the collective self defense right. But recent surveys have shown that a majority of voters are opposed to what would be a significant shift in Japan's defense policy. Endi