Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday it is not acceptable for Japan to make a nuclear sharing arrangement with the United States, rejecting the idea of hosting U.S. nuclear weapons as a deterrent amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Kishida said in parliament, "It is unacceptable given our country's stance of maintaining the three nonnuclear principles," following a call by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the previous day to discuss the option of nuclear sharing.

Although it relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella, Japan maintains its three principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear arms on its territory. In World War II, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by U.S. atomic bombs.

Kishida, elected from a Hiroshima constituency, has called for a world free of nuclear weapons. ...continue reading