Chinese officials and experts have periodically tied Japan's reinterpretation of its military posture to the country's domestic nuclear capability in order to raise concerns that Japan could in future become more aggressive.
While it is reasonable to debate the new security bill, such insinuations are unwarranted. Here's why Japan is unlikely to ever build a nuclear bomb.
Since the 1960s, Tokyo has developed one of the most advanced civilian nuclear energy programs that exists amongst the international community.
That program generates approximately one third of the country's electricity at present, but could in theory also be used to produce material for use in a nuclear weapon.