When Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Friday before a visit to Europe that his country "cannot avoid" a debate on it acquiring nuclear weapons, he wasn't pondering the moral weight of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. He was flying a "trial balloon"; watching to see the international community's response.

When Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Friday before a visit to Europe that his country "cannot avoid" a debate on it acquiring nuclear weapons, he wasn't…

China on Monday urged the Japanese authorities not to defy public opinion or persist in what it described as a dangerous push toward remilitarization and nuclear armament.

China's Foreign Ministry has described a suggestion by Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi that Japan should discuss nuclear weapons policy without taboos as highly…