Saito urges Takaichi to uphold 3-non-nuclear principles

November 27 , 2025

On November 26, Komeito Chief Representative Tetsuo Saito questioned Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during the first party leaders debate of her administration. Saito’s questions were based on the formal Cabinet response to an earlier written query he made on Japan’s three non-nuclear principles.

Saito castigated Takaichi for stating that the principles were incongruous with the US doctrine of nuclear deterrence. Saito said the doctrine could not justify revising Japan’s long-held position to prohibit the nation from possessing or producing nuclear weapons nor allowing them on Japanese soil. He also questioned why the prime minister felt preserving the principles posed a threat to Japanese citizens—indeed, he said, successive governments had upheld the principles with the very intent of protecting lives.

Because the administration’s stand on the nuclear weapons remained ambiguous, Saito reiterated that Komeito would continue to work to ensure that the principles be maintained without qualification.

Saito also said that the government should once again listen to the hibakusha, the survivors of the two atomic bombings represented by such groups as the Nobel peace prize winning Nihon Hidankyo, and heed their call to rid the world of nuclear weapons. He called once again for the Japanese government to take part as a formal observer in the promotion process of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Saito then made it clear that any decision to revise the non-nuclear principles must not be unilaterally carried out by the Cabinet or coalition government parties. The matter must be thoroughly discussed in the Diet, he said, and that the Diet alone should have that right.

Meeting with the press following the debate, Saito expressed disappointment that the prime minister was not more forthcoming with her responses to his questions. He was particularly concerned over Takaichi qualifying her intent not to revise the non-nuclear principles “at this time,” which could be perceived that a change was possible in the future. Saito said Komeito would therefore continue to pursue the matter in the Diet and do the utmost to maintain the principles as they are now. He added that he was equally concerned over the Takaichi administration’s review of the Three Strategic Documents on national security, that it would yield untoward results. Any Cabinet decision to revise the documents on its own, he concluded, was reckless and unacceptable.

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• Summary of Takaichi Cabinet’s formal response to Komeito chief Saito’s query