TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio indicated Monday that his government will launch discussions on whether to establish a police unit specializing in guarding nuclear power plants in Japan.

The move comes in response to Russia’s attacks on nuclear facilities in Ukraine during its invasion of the country.

“Public interest in the safety of nuclear plants has surged,” Kishida told a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament.

“We are thinking of assessing whether we will be able to apply Fukui Prefecture’s initiative to other prefectures and then further expand discussions,” Kishida said. Fukui has established a police force responsible for the security of nuclear facilities in the prefecture.

On Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kishida said, “The act of violence by Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, just shows how much we need a new framework of the international order.”

The Security Council has failed to take a unified response to the invasion, with Russia vetoing a resolution condemning the military incursion.

Kishida said that a permanent member of the Security Council should refrain from exercising veto power as much as possible.

“We hope to continue working toward Security Council and UN reforms,” together with France, which has taken a positive stance on revamping the United Nations, and other nations, Kishida said.

Kishida voiced concerns that Japan’s neighbors have boosted both the quality and the quantity of their military strength, with their military operations becoming more active.

He indicated that his country will discuss beefing up deterrence power and the coping capabilities of the Japan-US alliance, including extended deterrence provided by the United States, as part of the work to revise its National Security Strategy.

“As we believe that the extended deterrence has been functioning under the Japan-US alliance, we will not discuss nuclear sharing” with the United States, Kishida said.

Yuko Mori, secretary-general for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan in the Upper House, urged the government to delete an eight-point plan on economic cooperation between Japan and Russia from its fiscal 2022 budget bill.

“We are not thinking of altering the budget,” Kishida said, adding that the budget includes various measures such as providing Japanese companies with information.

JIJI Press