China touched on 'nuclear debate' in Japan at June talks: sources+

WASHINGTON, July 2 Kyodo -
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi
Nakasone when they met last month that China is carefully watching the debate
in Japan on whether the country should promote discussions about possibly
possessing nuclear weapons, sources close to U.S.-China relations have said.

Yang mentioned the emergence of such debate in Japan during his June 7 meeting
in Tokyo with Nakasone when the Chinese minister said peace and stability are
important in Northeast Asia, while adding that Beijing is firmly against North
Korea testing or possessing nuclear weapons, the sources said.
In Tokyo, former Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa suggested after North
Korea's April 5 rocket launch, suspected as a test for long-range ballistic
missile technologies, that Japan should promote discussions on the possibility
of possessing nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang followed the rocket launch with a nuclear test in late May and the
regional tensions have prompted increasingly hawkish opinions among Japanese
lawmakers on the country's defense policies.
A draft of Japan's new defense policy guidelines covering fiscal 2010 through
2014 calls for the reinforcement of defense personnel and equipment in view of
mounting concerns over North Korea's nuclear tests as well as the rise of China
as a major military power.
The draft also alludes to Tokyo's intention to consider whether it should be
capable of striking enemy bases. Japan's pacifist Constitution limits its
military to defensive operations.
Referring to the Yang-Nakasone talks, Japanese government sources said it must
have been the first time that China has mentioned such ''nuclear debate''
within Japan in ministerial-level talks.
==Kyodo