U.S. to retire nuclear Tomahawk missiles, Japan told+

TOKYO, Feb. 22 Kyodo -
The United States has informally told Japan that it will retire its sea-based
Tomahawk cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads, in line with President
Barack Obama's policy to pursue a world free of nuclear weapons, Japanese
government sources said Monday.
Washington said the move would not affect its ''nuclear umbrella,'' addressing
concerns in Tokyo about the step's effect on the U.S. deterrence against
potential attacks from countries like China and North Korea, the sources said.
The retirement policy will likely be stipulated in the ''Nuclear Posture
Review,'' a new nuclear strategic guideline the Obama administration is slated
to report to Congress in March, they said.
The nuclear-tipped Tomahawk was loaded on nuclear-powered U.S. submarines that
called in Japan during the Cold War era, but later removed for storage at bases
on the U.S. mainland for possible deployment in the event of a contingency,
according to U.S. nuclear experts.
Their retirement will also likely affect debate in Japan over Tokyo's ongoing
investigation into a secret pact with Washington to allow the U.S. military to
bring nuclear weapons to Japan, since decommissioning will rule out the
possibility of the missiles coming to the country.
Tomahawk-armed submarines' apparent port calls and passage through Japanese
waters in the past have raised controversy in terms of Tokyo's three
non-nuclear principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear arms on
its territory.
Washington notified Tokyo earlier this year of its policy to gradually
decommission the nuclear Tomahawk, citing the cost for maintaining the missiles
as a reason, according to the sources.
But the U.S. side also explained that it can maintain its nuclear umbrella with
other nuclear and conventional capabilities, the sources said.
Officials from both governments have already begun discussions on the future of
the U.S. deterrence on the premise the Tomahawk will be retired, they said.
In February last year, before Japan's long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party was
ousted from power in September, Japanese diplomats concerned about a weakening
of the U.S. deterrence asked the Congressional Commission on the Strategic
Posture of the United States that Tokyo be consulted ahead of any decision if
Washington considers retiring the nuclear Tomahawk.
The commission urged the U.S. government in its final report in May to take
steps to retain the Tomahawk, saying, ''In Asia, extended deterrence relies
heavily on the deployment of nuclear cruise missiles on some Los Angeles class
attack submarines -- the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile/Nuclear (TLAM/N). This
capability will be retired in 2013 unless steps are taken to maintain it.''
==Kyodo
2010-02-22 23:18:59