China Russia warn Japan nuclear ambitions

China's ambassador to Russia, Zhang Rui, published an article in TASS warning that Japan's accelerated remilitarization and debate over acquiring nuclear weapons could disrupt the strategic balance in Northeast Asia and trigger a nuclear arms race. He noted that Russia and China share a high degree of consensus in opposing Japan's nuclear pursuit. The warning follows reports that a senior official in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's security policy circle argued in December 2025 that Japan should consider nuclear weapons due to the perceived unreliability of the US nuclear umbrella. While Takaichi publicly reaffirms Japan's three non-nuclear principles, she has questioned the principle of not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons, and Defense Minister Shinjirō Koizumi has called for taboo-free discussion of nuclear weapons. Zhang also highlighted Japan's 44.4 tons of separated civilian plutonium, enough for about 5,500 warheads. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the debate a serious signal, and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko warned that abandoning the policy would worsen regional security.