Japan Warns US Of Possibility Of Attack Similar To Pearl Harbor
WASHINGTON - Japan has warned the United States of the possibility of a 'Pearl Harbor' type of attack from both Russia and China, pointing to the increased cooperation between the two countries.
Japan's Defense Minister, Yasuhide Nakayama said, "Seventy years ago, we attacked Pearl Harbor, but now the U.S. and Japan [are] very good allies, one of the best allies all over the world. [Russian Forces] are really exercising just right in front of the western part of Honolulu, and so I don’t want to remind the 70 years ago, but we have to be careful of the exercising of the Russians".
Last month Russia sank an aircraft carrier 30 miles off the coast of Hawaii during war games, causing the United States Air Force to scramble jets multiple times over the course of the exercises.
Nakayama said, "We have to show the deterrence towards China, and not just China but also the Russians, because, as I told you, that they are doing their exercises together."
"China and Russia are doing very good. They are friends. They are very good friends, I think. But on the other hand, they are creating their own missiles capability, their own submarine capability. They are sharing their knowledge together, even with academia, I guess, or [R&D] So we have to more focus on how to protect and not just protect, but how to hedge the risk."
"If some country shoot’s [a nuclear missile] from their continent towards Honolulu, that missile's ... the warheads compared to Hiroshima, it’s 200 times more than Hiroshima" continued Nakayama.
"So I’ve been to Hiroshima before and I went to the museum before, from that experience and the perspective, if 200 times more strong atomic bombs or torpedoes or missiles, warheads towards Honolulu, I think Honolulu will be erased from the map. So we have to think before using those powers, we have to think how to stop it."
What we can do is show the deterrence and also [that an attack] or happening towards Taiwan, it’s straight to relate to not just Japan, but also the U.S.-Japan alliance even."