SEOUL (AFP) -
South
Korea and Japan offered muted reactions Monday to Donald Trump's
suggestion that, as president, he would withdraw troops from both
countries and allow them to develop their own nuclear arsenal.
There
are nearly 30,000 US troops permanently stationed in South Korea and
47,000 in Japan, with little appetite for nuclear weapons in either
nation.
Asked to respond to Trump's 'America first' policy to wean
nations off US support, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon
Sang-Gyun said it would be inappropriate to comment on remarks by a US
presidential candidate.
But he stressed there was no change to
Seoul's position that the South Korea-US Mutual Defence Treaty remained
the bedrock of the alliance with Washington.
Japan's top
government spokesman Yoshihide Suga also declined to react directly to
Trump's comments, published Saturday in the New York Times, but insisted
the military alliance with Washington was crucial and enduring.
"It
is the main pillar of Japan's foreign policy and extremely important
for the prosperity and safety of the Asia-Pacific region and the world,"
Suga told reporters.
He said Japan would maintain its policies
against nuclear possession and production, and a ban on foreign nuclear
weapons on its territory.
Support for a nuclear-armed South Korea
is a minority voice in the country -- although one that grows louder
after every nuclear test by North Korea.
Japan is widely seen as
having the know-how to produce nuclear arms but, as the only country to
have suffered an atomic attack, public opinion is strongly opposed to
such a move.
Trump's remarks caused a stir in the media, however,
with Japan's mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun daily saying they had
generated some government concern.
"If he becomes the US
president, it would be a problem for the Japan-US national security
system," it quoted an unnamed source close to the government as saying.
South Korean newspapers called Trump's comments dangerous and shocking.
In
a strongly-worded editorial, the English-language JoongAng Daily said:
"His views -- stemming from a critical lack of understanding about the
alliance and security issues -- are utterly short-sighted.
"We are dumbfounded at such myopic views of a leading candidate," it said.
There
are few takers in Washington for the idea of nuclear-armed Asian
allies, which would set back a longstanding, if repeatedly violated,
principle of not allowing new nations into the nuclear club.
Trump
said a nuclear-armed South Korea and Japan could be preferable to the
current situation in which both countries look to the US nuclear
umbrella to counter the threat from North Korea and a rising China.
His
foreign policy envisaged withdrawing US troops from the two Asian
nations unless they significantly increased their contributions to
Washington for maintaining that military presence.
© 2016 AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment