SDF request led to nuclear threat scenario in Japan-U.S. exercise
The United States ultimately complied with the request in the simulation exercise that envisioned a potential invasion of Taiwan by Beijing, raising concerns that Japan's push to invoke nuclear deterrence could exacerbate tensions between the United States and China.
The request, the first of its kind in a Japan-U.S. joint exercise, was based on Japan's policy of reliance on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for protection, suggesting that both Japanese government and SDF officials see Chinese nuclear saber-rattling as a real possibility in the event of a Taiwan contingency.
The Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Japan and the United States named China as a hypothetical enemy for the first time in the computer simulation exercise "Keen Edge" in February last year.
During the exercise, the U.S. Navy set up temporary bases in the Nansei island chain in the Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures in the initial stages of a Taiwan contingency, with the SDF providing logistical support.
Later in the drill, the scenario assumed that China hinted at the use of nuclear weapons against the United States and Japan, but the U.S. side initially did not take any measures due to concerns over escalating the situation further, according to the sources.
Adm. John Aquilino, commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, ultimately acquiesced to repeated requests by Gen. Yoshihide Yoshida, chief of the SDF Joint Staff, for "the United States to counter with nuclear threats to defend Japan." Neither Beijing nor Washington used nuclear arms in the simulation.
The two countries announced last December their first guidelines on "extended deterrence," often described as the U.S.'s commitment to using its full range of nuclear and conventional capabilities to defend Japan amid China's growing military activities and North Korea's missile and nuclear development.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Mainichi
14 minutes ago
- The Mainichi
Xenophobia worries and a ban on smiling: Our 5 most-read stories from last week
We've listed our five most read stories on The Mainichi news site, from top to bottom, that were published between July 19 and 27. The first story was viewed by 30.1% of our regular readers. (The Mainichi) Naturalized linguist in Japan laments recent political trend to blame foreigners MUNAKATA, Fukuoka -- An American-born linguist who acquired Japanese nationality two years ago is concerned about the trend that was recently seen in the lead-up to the July 20 House of Councillors election in Japan. With one political party promoting a "Japanese First" agenda and misinformation spreading online, the scholar compared it to the division seen in the U.S. Interviewed before the upper house election, she said she planned to vote to support harmony. Full story. Blameless but facing deportation: Japan immigration law's inexplicable provision One day a foreign woman living in Japan suddenly received a visit from a police officer at her workplace. She had come under suspicion of aiding the illegal work of a Vietnamese man. The woman herself had come to Japan to work, but she had no recollection of ever having helped someone work illegally, and half a year later, the criminal charges were dropped. Full story. LDP's Mio Sugita loses upper house seat after backlash over discriminatory remarks TOKYO -- Former House of Representatives member Mio Sugita failed to secure a seat in the July 20 House of Councillors election after facing increasing criticism over her repeated discriminatory remarks. Full story. West Japan town's 'kappa' folklore creature to be replaced after years of scaring tourists FUKUSAKI, Hyogo -- A popular statue of a "kappa" river creature from Japanese folklore in this western Japan town will be replaced after becoming worn out from years of "work" by popping out of a pond to surprise tourists. Full story. Japan high school baseball team banned from smiling, waving in tourney entrance march HIROSAKI, Aomori -- A high school baseball team that smiled and waved as they marched during the summer 2024 Aomori Prefecture tournament's opening ceremony had to abandon doing the same this year as the prefectural baseball federation asked the players to follow tradition. Full story.
Yomiuri Shimbun
14 minutes ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Teachers Committing Indecent Acts: Schools Obliged to Check Individual History of Punishment
There has been no end to cases of school teachers committing indecent acts against children, causing great anxiety among parents and guardians. Despite these circumstances, can it not be said that schools and other places of education lack a sense of urgency to tackle the situation? It has recently been discovered that 5,480 corporations operating private kindergartens and elementary, junior high and high schools did not use a national database to check whether people they may hire as teachers have been punished in the past for indecent acts against children. The figure accounts for 75% of the corporations that responded to a survey conducted by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry. The database currently lists 2,698 people, including former teachers who have had their teaching licenses revoked for committing indecent acts. The database has been in use since fiscal 2023 so that boards of education across the nation and private school corporations could search the records to help them determine the suitability of candidates when hiring teachers. Of the corporations that responded to the ministry's survey, 42% had not even registered themselves as database users, and 33% had registered but did not use the system. Using the database is required by law, and failure to do so constitutes a violation, but many corporations said they were unaware of this obligation. There have been cases in the past where teachers who had committed sex crimes were hired in another prefecture and committed similar crimes again. To prevent such situations from occurring, utilizing the database is essential. It is appalling that many private schools have neglected to use the database. It can be said that their lack of awareness of the situation has been exposed. No matter how good a system is, if it is not used, it is meaningless. As for public schools, the boards of education in Hokkaido and Nagoya were among those that did not make proper use of the database. Viewing the situation as serious, the ministry has decided to also look into the precise picture of the system's use by national and public schools nationwide. As well as checking whether the database is being used, it is also necessary to ensure that teachers with problems have not already been hired. In fiscal 2023, 157 teachers were punished for committing indecent acts against children. Earlier this year, a shocking case came to light in which elementary school teachers in Nagoya and others allegedly shared videos of children secretly filmed on a social media group chat. The government is said to be launching a system dubbed the Japanese version of the DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) in late 2026, for employers to inquire about the sex-related criminal history of individuals working in jobs involving contact with children. Inquiries will apply not only to candidates to be hired but also to those already employed. Making inquiries with the envisaged system will be mandatory for schools and childcare facilities, while private businesses such as cram schools and sports clubs can use the system on a voluntary basis. Combined with the database of teachers' records of punishment, the wide use of the planned system will help protect children. The government must strive to make these two systems thoroughly known among relevant establishments and encourage their use. The mental and physical trauma suffered by children who have been betrayed by adults they trust runs deep. The despicable sexual violence that abuses hierarchical relationships must not be tolerated. Once again, schools and other places of education must share that understanding. (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 28, 2025)
Japan Today
44 minutes ago
- Japan Today
US, China to launch new talks on tariff truce extension, easing path for Trump-Xi meeting
FILE PHOTO: The American and Chinese flags are photographed on the negotiating table, during a bilateral meeting between the United States and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, May 10, 2025. KEYSTONE/EDA/Martial Trezzini/Handout via REUTERS/ File Photo By David Lawder Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials will resume talks in Stockholm on Monday to try to tackle longstanding economic disputes at the centre of a trade war between the world's top two economies, aiming to extend a truce by three months and keeping sharply higher tariffs at bay. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with President Donald Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from U.S. duties snapping back to triple-digit levels that would amount to a bilateral trade embargo. The Stockholm talks come hot on the heels of Trump's biggest trade deal yet with the European Union on Sunday for a 15% tariff on most EU goods exports to the U.S., including autos. The bloc will also buy $750 billion worth of American energy and make $600 billion worth of U.S. investments in coming years. No similar breakthrough is expected in the U.S.-China talks but trade analysts said that another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May was likely. An extension of that length would prevent further escalation and facilitate planning for a potential meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late October or early November. A U.S. Treasury spokesperson declined comment on a South China Morning Post report quoting unnamed sources as saying the two sides would refrain from introducing new tariffs or other steps that could escalate the trade war for another 90 days. Trump's administration is poised to impose new sectoral tariffs that will impact China within weeks, including on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, ship-to-shore cranes and other products. "We're very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we'll see how that goes," Trump told reporters on Sunday before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck their tariff deal. The Financial Times reported on Monday that the U.S. had paused curbs on tech exports to China to avoid disrupting trade talks with Beijing and support Trump's efforts to secure a meeting with Xi this year. The industry and security bureau of the Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, had been told to avoid tough moves on China, the newspaper said, citing current and former officials. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The White House and the department did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment outside business hours. DEEPER ISSUES Previous U.S.-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on bringing U.S. and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China and Nvidia's H20 AI chips and other goods halted by the United States. So far, the talks have not delved into broader economic issues. They include U.S. complaints that China's state-led, export-driven model is flooding world markets with cheap goods, and Beijing's complaints that U.S. national security export controls on tech goods seek to stunt Chinese growth. "Geneva and London were really just about trying to get the relationship back on track so that they could, at some point, actually negotiate about the issues which animate the disagreement between the countries in the first place," said Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "I'd be surprised if there is an early harvest on some of these things but an extension of the ceasefire for another 90 days seems to be the most likely outcome," Kennedy said. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already flagged a deadline extension and has said he wants China to rebalance its economy away from exports to more domestic consumption -- a decades-long goal for U.S. policymakers. Analysts say the U.S.-China negotiations are far more complex than those with other Asian countries and will require more time. China's grip on the global market for rare earth minerals and magnets, used in everything from military hardware to car windshield wiper motors, has proved to be an effective leverage point on U.S. industries. TRUMP-XI MEETING? In the background of the talks is speculation about a possible meeting between Trump and Xi in late October. Trump has said he will decide soon on a landmark trip to China, and a new flare-up of tariffs and export controls would likely derail planning. Sun Chenghao, a fellow at Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy in Beijing, said that a Trump-Xi summit would be an opportunity for the U.S. to lower the 20% tariffs on Chinese goods related to fentanyl. In exchange, he said the Chinese side could make good on its 2020 pledge to increase purchases of U.S. farm products and other goods. "The future prospect of the heads of state summit is very beneficial to the negotiations because everyone wants to reach an agreement or pave the way in advance," Sun said. Still, China will likely request a reduction of multi-layered U.S. tariffs totaling 55% on most goods and further easing of U.S. high-tech export controls, analysts said. Beijing has argued that such purchases would help reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, which reached $295.5 billion in 2024. © (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025.
