Eye on China: Japan reopens taboo debate over nuclear-powered submarines

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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi says Japan will seriously consider nuclear-powered submarines as China expands its naval presence and regional tensions rise. The proposal is controversial within the governing coalition as Japan prepares to revise key security documents.

With China flexing its naval power across the Pacific and bilateral tensions running high, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is weighing a move long viewed as taboo – nuclear-powered submarines for the Maritime Self-Defence Force fleet. “We will seriously consider [the possibility] in a concrete and realistic manner,” Takaichi told the Japanese parliament on October 14. Yet with Tokyo set to revise its core security documents by year’s end, the proposal is dividing the ruling coalition. The...