Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba denied claims that he had done an about-face by recently refraining from discussing the creation of a NATO-style alliance in Asia and a review of the bilateral agreement on hosting U.S. forces since taking office earlier in the month.
"I don't understand why I'm being labeled as having made a turnabout," the new leader said in an interview with Kyodo News on Saturday when asked about views that he has been avoiding detailed discussions on the regional security alliance and the U.S. military presence.
He noted that he has already instructed Itsunori Onodera, policy chief of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party, to begin discussions on the Asian security cooperation issue.
Ishiba has proposed to revise the bilateral Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, which serves as the basis for how U.S. troops stationed in Japan operate but often causes friction due to extraterritorial rights given to U.S. forces and personnel in Japan under it.
Ahead of the upcoming general election on Oct. 27, Ishiba has toughened his stance against dozens of lawmakers already penalized for failing to properly report political funds, with the LDP deciding not to endorse 15 lawmakers implicated in the party's slush funds scandal.
"We will entrust the decision to the constituents of the respective electoral districts," he said. "Sincerely accepting the anger of the constituents and being judged by them will be one way to showcase how the LDP is changing."
Meanwhile, Ishiba said considerations for "nuclear sharing" with the United States, an idea he has floated, should not be equated with talks about gaining the rights to possess or manage nuclear arms in Japan, a country committed to the principle of not possessing, producing or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons.
His answer came a day after Japan's leading organization of atomic bomb survivors, Nihon Hidankyo, won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
© KYODO
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TaiwanIsNotChina
What extraterritorial rights are those?
deanzaZZR
Listen to your neighbors new PM.
No to Asia’s NATO (from the Editorial Board)
This article was published in thejakartapost.com with the title "". Click to read: https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2024/10/05/no-to-asias-nato.html.
The only ASEAN country that would sign up is The Philippines.
Sanjinosebleed
Good on him if he is! The US is hell bent on starting ww3!
China needs to be confronted about its expansionist policy but not militarily! Political and financial incentives need to be considered first and foremost.
Japan needs to walk the tightrope here and try to keep all sides in dialogue
TaiwanIsNotChina
Because asking nicely has always worked with China?
OssanAmerica
China is terrified of anything resembling NATO forming in Asia.
What the U.S. is saying to China is "do you really want this to happen?"
China needs to deeply consider the benefits of not invading Taiwan and forcing it's unilateral territorial claims to the South China Seas.
deanzaZZR
Then China is according to you scared of a specter because such a thing can never come to be. At best you get Japan, The Philippines and Australia although Australia is not even in Asia.