Japan’s leader is calling for Nato-like nuclear sharing with the US. Will it deter China?

If Shigeru Ishiba’s proposal becomes a reality, it will raise tensions and could drive Beijing to ‘push further on its own nuclear build-up’

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Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has called for an “Asian version of Nato”. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 2:00pm, 13 Oct 2024

Japan’s new leader has proposed Nato-like nuclear sharing with the United States, a move analysts say would stoke tensions in the region and see China “sharpening its strategies”.

Last month, before he was elected as prime minister on September 27, Shigeru Ishiba called for an “Asian version of Nato” to be created and said sharing of US nuclear weapons in the Asia-Pacific should be considered.

Ishiba – who dissolved parliament on Wednesday, triggering a snap election later this month – made the call in an article published by Washington-based think tank the Hudson Institute.

Stressing that an Asian Nato was “essential to deter China by its Western allies”, Ishiba said the absence of a collective self-defence system like Nato in Asia meant “wars are likely to break out” without obligation for mutual defence.

He said Nato-like nuclear sharing would deter Russia and North Korea’s military alliance, and “if China’s strategic nuclear weapons are added to these dynamics, the US extended deterrence in the region will no longer function”.

Japan has a long-standing policy of non-possession, non-production and non-introduction of nuclear weapons that was imposed during the Allied occupation of Japan after its defeat in World War II following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.