November 18, 2025

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira, at a press conference in the Diet building on November 17, regarding the reported intention of Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae to review the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, stated, “That would be absolutely unacceptable. PM Takaichi should withdraw her intention to reassess this doctrine.”

Koike noted that the three principles (not to produce, possess, or allow the bringing-in of nuclear weapons) are “a national policy unanimously adopted by the Diet and also is a reflection of Japan’s international commitment.” He stated, “It would be impermissible for a cabinet to change the national policy concerning the very nature of the country.”

He pointed out, “While an overwhelming majority of nations are committed to establishing a world without nuclear weapons through the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), it would be internationally unacceptable for Japan, the only country to have suffered from atomic bombings in war, to move in the opposite direction to this global effort.”

Koike warned, at a time in which a nuclear arms race is thought to be growing in East Asia, “Allowing nuclear weapons to be brought into Japan could lead to further nuclear developments in other neighboring countries.”