Fears raised over Japan arms push
(CNN) -- There are fears the North Korean nuclear crisis could spark an Asian arms race involving Japan, a U.S. analyst says.
"A nuclearized Japan is certainly not out of the question in the near future," Ted Fishman told CNN on Monday.
Fishman is the author of "China Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Industrial Superpower Challenges America and the World".
As North Korea's closest ally, China has the power to push Pyongyang back to the bargaining table, but in return Beijing wants the arms embargo against it lifted, Fishman told CNN from Los Angeles.
This puts Tokyo in a difficult position, he said.
"Japan would be extremely worried either way," he said. "A nuclear North Korea is a big worry for them, but a re-armed China is also problematic."
"Additionally, nuclear proliferation in North Korea means nuclear proliferation in Japan. If Japan is looking down the barrel of nuclear weapons in North Korea, it won't be long before it feels the need to build a nuclear arsenal," he said.
An arms embargo was placed on Beijing by the United States and other Western nations after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. The European Union is planning to resume arms sales to China, a move opposed by Washington.
Added to the mix is the thorny issue of Beijing-Taipei relations.
Speaking from Beijing, CNN correspondent Stan Grant said Monday that a joint U.S.-Japan statement issued at the weekend calling on China to resolve peacefully its tensions with Taiwan further complicated the issue.
China immediately rejected the statement as meddling in its internal affairs.
The U.S.-Japan talks in Washington between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and their Japanese counterparts, came a week after North Korea said it had no intention of returning to the negotiating table for six-party talks and declared that it had nuclear weapons and was prepared to build more.
The fear of an arms race in Asia comes against the backdrop of increasing moves by Japan to more freely discuss contentious defense issues.
Japan revamped its defense policy in December, to give it a greater role in global military cooperation, and allow it to better respond to terrorist and missile attacks.
Koizumi also recently backed a revision of Japan's post-World War II pacifist constitution to begin calling government troops the Japanese "military" instead of the "self-defense force".
This follows Tokyo's move in 2003 to give the green light for a missile defense system, amid mounting concern of an attack from North Korea.
At the time, the government cited "a spread of missiles and a rise in weapons of mass destruction," as the reason behind the decision.
The timetable calls for the system to begin partially in 2007, and to be fully operational by 2011. The Japanese system will use U.S. equipment.
Japan became more concerned about protecting itself from incoming missiles after North Korea shocked Tokyo in 1998 by firing a long-range missile that flew over Japan and plunged into the Pacific Ocean.
