[DB]

I disagree.

No one on the planet fears Japan arming themselves with nuclear weapons more than China.

The very threat of Japan going nuclear has a very high likelihood of forcing China to reign in their Chia pet to the south. It is an excellent threat to hold over China's head to act and act now. Doing so may well save hundreds of thousands of lives in both NK and SK along with thousands of our soldiers lives.

[GATOR NAVY]

We agree.

[Alter Kaker]

No one on the planet fears Japan arming themselves with nuclear weapons more than China.

That may well be true. But they're not the only ones who fear a nuclear Japan, and all the other regional powers will look to Beijing -- not Washington -- to ensure regional security in the face of what they will perceive to be Japanese aggression. That's, imho, a grave geopolitical mistake.

Additionally, a nuclear armed Japan will legitimize everything the DPRK is saying -- that their nukes are purely defensive, and make it impossible for the US to build the kind of international resolve necessary to enforce an effective embargo of the DPRK. The US needs Kim Jong Il to remain the bad guy -- how he's currently viewed. If Japan builds nukes, the children and grandchildren of victims of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere will start seeing Japan as the bigger threat.

[diesel00]

No one on the planet fears Japan arming themselves with nuclear weapons more than China.

This is mostly speculation. Sure, China doesn't want Japan to have nukes, but in the end it doesn't matter whether Japan has them or not. Japan has 1/40 the landmass of China, and 1/10 of its population. Japan could not win a nuclear war with China on its own. If Japan wants nukes only as a deterrent, then the US nuclear umbrella is good enough. It's mostly ego and posturing for Japan to have nukes. The strategic benefit is pretty minimal.