Reuters ran a lengthy report on Aug. 19 entitled, “Trump Shock Spurs Japan To Think About the Unthinkable: Nuclear Arms.” The theme of the report is what the title suggests, that Tokyo and Seoul lack confidence in the U.S. commitment to “deter” China, and may have to consider acquiring their own nuclear arsenals.
However, the story begins in neither of those two capitals, but in London, where a Japanese lawmaker Rui Matsukawa first came up with the idea. Matsukawa, a former deputy defense minister and current member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s national security policy council, traveled to London in March for a high-level conference. It was there, she told Reuters, that she learned from British lawmakers and diplomats that Europe had “awakened” to the fact it could no longer rely so heavily on America and must take more responsibility for its security.
