まゆの部屋

Japan, U.S. discuss N-deterrence
Satoshi Ogawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

WASHINGTON--Senior defense and foreign ministerial officials met with Bradley Roberts, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy, in Washington on Thursday, in the first bilateral consultative talks on nuclear deterrence strategy.

An agreement last summer between Japan--under the previous administration of former Prime Minister Taro Aso--and the United States to launch consultative talks on nuclear strategy had been put on hold by the Democratic Party of Japan-led administration that took power in September.

Many ruling coalition lawmakers take a cautious stance on the policy of relying on nuclear deterrence.

The Japan side was represented in the talks by Kazuyoshi Umemoto, director general of the North American Affairs Bureau, and Takehiro Funakoshi, director of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty Division, both of the Foreign Ministry, and Kiyoshi Serizawa, director of the Defense Ministry's Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation Division.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has a policy of seeking a nuclear-free world.

However, faced with North Korea's nuclear development program and China's military buildup, Tokyo is concerned about whether the nuclear umbrella offered by the United States will continue to function effectively.

In Thursday's meeting, the Japanese side apparently sought explanations from the United States on what substitute deterrent measures would be taken if Washington abolishes weapons that have served as Japan's nuclear umbrella.

The two sides also were believed to have discussed the work done to verify whether there were secret agreements between the two countries on the entry into Japan of nuclear weapons and how to deal with the issue in the future.

The consultations on nuclear deterrence are part of consultative talks on deepening the Japan-U.S. alliance.

The governments of the two countries want to reflect the results of the nuclear deterrence talks in a political document they are likely to compile in November, Japanese officials said.

(Feb. 21, 2010)