Japan as a non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), has clearly international legal obligation not to develop or possess nuclear weapons. China is highly concerned about the remarks by some senior officials of the Japanese government on the possibility of possessing nuclear weapons. Japan has been breaching the exclusively defense-oriented principle and strengthening so-called extended deterrence. Senior Japanese officials have claimed that they do not rule out possibility of possessing nuclear submarines. Some politicians are clamoring to replicate nuclear-sharing arrangement and attempting to alter its three non-nuclear principles of not possessing, not producing and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons, which severely deviates from Japan's commitment to peace and constitutes a blatant provocation to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. The international community and NPT States Parties must remain highly vigilant.

It is well known that Japan's separated plutonium stockpile has reached 8.6 tons, far exceeding the actual needs of its civilian nuclear program. what Japan is up to? It should be emphasized that Japan is the only non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the NPT which possesses reprocessing technology, is capable of extracting weapons-grade plutonium, and has operable reprocessing facilities. The under-construction Rokkasho reprocessing plant is designed with an annual plutonium separation capacity of up to 8 tons, which can produce fissile material for a thousand of nuclear weapons within one year. Japan must be strictly and effectively constrained through the NPT regime and the IAEA's comprehensive safeguards system.

Peace-loving countries worldwide should be highly vigilant against the right-wing forces in Japan's push for "remilitarization" and their nuclear ambitions, and resolutely oppose Japan's dangerous tendencies on the issue of nuclear weapons. China calls on the IAEA to conduct inspections of Japan's nuclear capabilities, explore ways to strengthen safeguards in Japan and to resolve the issue of Japan's excessive plutonium stockpile, so as to strictly prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. We strongly urge Japan to abide by international law, cease its provocative probes on the issue of nuclear weapons, adhere to the three non-nuclear principles and international non-proliferation obligations, and provide a clear explanation to the international community.