China released an official report on Thursday stating that Japan “may already have produced weapons-grade plutonium in secret” and “has the technological and economic capabilities to achieve nuclear armament in a short period of time”. The report assessing Japan’s nuclear threat cited former US president Joe Biden’s direct message to Chinese President Xi Jinping that Japan had the capacity to have nuclear weapons “virtually overnight”. Biden first disclosed the information in an interview with...

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[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 30 points 2 months ago (2 children)

If only Japan would develop nuclear weapons so they can overthrow the US and no longer be their vassal. Sadly, they'd be far more likely to just use them on China so the US can nuke China without needing to be the one to directly do the deed (and therefore not have to worry about the nuclear retaliation)

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sure Japan is a client state, but its entire political class have eagerly bought in to the idea, and the main opposition to it within the ruling party is only on the grounds that they should get to do imperialism of their own again.

I feel like japan is pretty far down on the "Should get nukes" list. At least with the current regime.

[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 6 points 2 months ago

Yeah, it's like, I would want an independent Japan, not a vassal one, but also the only people in Japan who are pushing for that are right wing nationalists who want to restore the Japanese Empire.

[–] Wheaties@hexbear.net 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is it naive to think M.A.D. is still effective deterrence?

[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 24 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

M.A.D. works because both parties have too much to lose, but a dying US empire may no longer worry about that. I am assuming that anyone in Japan involved in such a decision would just do so at the behest of the Americans, knowing full well it will destroy Japan in the process, though even the most diehard nationalist there would probably think twice before launching a nuke.

[–] Evilsandwichman@hexbear.net 21 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Honestly the workaround to MAD weapons is to get a proxy to destroy itself engaging in a MAD war with an enemy of your choosing (so Japan vs China for example)

[–] SouffleHuman@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I'm assuming that on the scale and resources of a great power, there's nothing really stopping one from just nuking all potential adversaries in a MAD scenario (whether directly at war or not) to deter against this exact situation. That's why the US and Russia each have thousands of nukes, and why China is also aiming to get over a thousand. Things like international norms or plausible deniability probably fall by the wayside in an existential conflict.

[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, that's what I was thinking the US's strategy might be. Though it would probably be hard for them to find a proxy that is both stable enough to build nuclear weapons and also suicidal enough to use them.

[–] ColombianLenin@hexbear.net 2 points 2 months ago

Counter point isntrael

[–] marxisthayaca@hexbear.net 11 points 2 months ago

Why would china not aim nukes at the US, at that point? You don’t want your enemy to still be standing.