By Tim Kelly and Kaori Kaneko
TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese political party leader and unabashed populist who admires former U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Japan to have a say in how U.S. nuclear weapons might be used in its defence.
Nobuyuki Baba is hoping to shift Japanese politics to the right by transforming his Japan Innovation Party into the main opposition to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government in the next general election.
On some key defence issues, Baba supports Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) including a proposal to amend the pacifist constitution to give official recognition to the armed forces and build a stronger military equipped with longer-range missiles to deter China and North Korea.
But Baba also wants the U.S., which has a security treaty with Japan and deploys more than 50,000 troops at several bases, to agree to give Japan a say in how it deploys or could use its nuclear weapons.
“The leader of Japan has to take some responsibility rather than just leaving it to the Americans to decide how they are used,” Baba told Reuters in an interview in his Tokyo party office on Wednesday.
“I think that is the case for any country. It is something that should be properly discussed.”
The prime minister, a native of Hiroshima, which the U.S. military struck with a nuclear bomb in 1945 during World War Two, wants to abolish the weapons and has rejected the idea of a Japanese say in how the U.S. might use them.
Military tensions have been rising in East Asia as friction between China and the United States over various differences builds and with North Korea arming itself with intercontinental ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear bombs.
South Korea, the other staunch U.S. ally in the region, has also raised the issue with the U.S. of a larger role in planning for a possible nuclear war with North Korea.
TRANSFORMING POLITICS
Baba’s right-leaning party – its Japanese name refers to the nineteenth century period of political upheaval that ended centuries of isolation and restored the emperor to power – says it wants to make Japan “dream and hope” again.
“It’s fine to call it populist politics,” he said as he criticized the LDP for being too rigid and dominated by political dynasties.
He envisages a Trump-style shake-up of politics, saying without it “we won’t be able to transform politics or the country”.
The Japan Innovation Party, founded in 2015, has 41 seats in the lower house but aim boost that tally in the next election.
“Our goal is to contest all 289 electoral districts,” Baba said.
Speculation is building about when Kishida, who is hoping to solidify his power within the ruling party, might call an election. His approval rating has been slipping over a national identity card controversy and a party hosted by his son.
Kishida this month ruled out dissolving parliament for now but analysts said by waiting, he risks giving Baba more time to prepare for a contest that will decide 465 lower house seats.
Baba has set his sights on replacing the left-of-centre Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) as the main opposition in parliament.
The CDPJ has 97 seats while Kishida’s LDP has 262, though it is also supported by 32 lawmakers from coalition partner Komeito.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly, Kaori Kaneko and Yukiko Toyoda)
