Newly declassified Japanese diplomatic documents show that the late Prime Minister Eisaku Sato expressed his expectation to then U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara that the United States would immediately retaliate against China with nuclear weapons if war occurred between China and Japan.
Sato spoke with Mr. McNamara on Jan. 13, 1965, in Washington after meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson. He also suggested that the U.S. could immediately use sea-based nuclear weapons.
On the surface, Sato's statement appears to contradict Japan's nonnuclear policy. But it should not be used as an excuse to deviate from Japan's nonnuclear weapons policy.