ISTANBUL

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is mulling over a review of the East Asian nation's long-standing non-nuclear weapons principles, according to a report by the Kyodo News on Friday.

While Takaichi has no intention of revising Japan’s stance on not possessing or producing nuclear weapons, she is willing to consider changing the third principle of not allowing nuclear weapons to be brought into Japan, the news agency report said, citing government sources.

Japan has three non-nuclear principles that prohibit the possession, production, or introduction of nuclear weapons during an emergency.

The third principle weakens the effectiveness of the US's nuclear deterrence, the media outlets said, citing the sources.

If the principles are changed, it will represent a significant shift in the country's security policy since then-Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato declared the Three Non-Nuclear Principles in the Diet in 1967.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is expected to begin discussions about revising the security strategy and related documents in the spring of next year, with the goal of submitting a proposal that will lay the groundwork for the government to revise the security documents by the end of 2026.

During a news conference in Beijing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian expressed "serious concern" about Japan's "military and security moves recently," according to a transcript of the conference.

"While Japan claims to be a peace-loving country and advocates a world free of nuclear weapons, the Sanae Takaichi administration has been making ambiguous statements about the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and implying the possibility of quitting the principles," he said.

"Japanese senior officials even claimed that Japan has not ruled out the possibility of possessing nuclear submarines," he said, adding that these "fully reveal that Japan is making a major negative policy shift, which sends a dangerous signal to the international community."