Japanese leader warns China:We"ll go Nuclear

[Guest guest]

Japanese leader warns China of nuclear option

 

"It would be easy for us to produce nuclear warheads. We can produce

thousands of nuclear warheads overnight. We may have enough

plutonium at nuclear power plants for 3,000 or 4,000 rounds."

He added: "I told that person that if we rise to the occasion, we

will never be beaten even in terms of military power."

Japan's Liberal Party chief Ichiro Ozawa

 

AFP [ SUNDAY, APRIL 07, 2002 8:34:53 AM ]

 

TOKYO: A conservative Japanese political leader has warned Beijing

that Japan can arm itself with nuclear weapons overnight if China

goes ahead with an excessive military build-up, press reports said

on Sunday.

 

The warning from opposition Liberal Party chief Ichiro Ozawa is

likely to provoke sharp reaction from China and the rest of Asia,

sensitive to any signs of Japan's military revival.

 

In a lecture in the provincial city of Fukuoka on Saturday, Ozawa

said he had referred to the nuclear option during a recent meeting

with an official from the intelligence division of the Chinese

Community Party, the reports said.

 

"China is undergoing an expansion of its military power in a bid to

join the ranks of the superpowers," said Ozawa, a renowned advocate

of a strong armed forces. "It is trying to become a military power

following in the steps of the United States."

 

Ozawa, 59, a former secretary general of the ruling Liberal

Democratic Party, said he had told the unidentified Chinese

visitor: "If you get too inflated, Japanese people will get

hysterical."

 

"It would be easy for us to produce nuclear warheads. We can produce

thousands of nuclear warheads overnight. We may have enough

plutonium at nuclear power plants for 3,000 or 4,000 rounds."

 

He added: "I told that person that if we rise to the occasion, we

will never be beaten even in terms of military power."

 

Ozawa, however, emphasised that what he really wanted was a fully

democratic China and a society in which "China and Japan can co-

exist".

 

He said the introduction of democracy to China was essential to

world peace.

 

"Any break down of order in China will be no match for that in

Afghanistan or Yugoslavia. It will lead to significant global

turmoil," he said.

 

However, Japanese newspapers expressed concern about the possible

repercussions arising from Ozawa's remarks.

 

"His position, in which he has tried to hold China in check by

bringing up the possibility of nuclear armament, is likely to cause

ripples at home and abroad," the conservative daily Sankei Shimbun

said.

 

The influential daily Asahi Shimbun said it anticipated a "backlash

from the Chinese government and others".