Editing Eisaku Satō (section)

=== Nuclear affairs ===
In his early years as prime minister, Sato had argued that Japan needed to develop nuclear weapons of its own to match those of China, but the United States government was staunchly opposed to this, and the Johnson administration pressured Japan to sign the [[Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/imagine-japan-builds-nuclear-weapons-59512|title=Imagine This: Japan Builds Nuclear Weapons|date=25 May 2019}}</ref>

Accordingly, Satō introduced the [[Three Non-Nuclear Principles]] on 11 December 1967, promising the non-production, non-possession, and non-introduction of [[nuclear weapon]]s inside Japan. Thereafter, Satō shepherded Japan's entry into the [[Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty]] and the Diet passed a resolution formally adopting the Non-Nuclear Principles in 1971. For these actions, Satō would receive the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] as a co-recipient in 1974.

However, recent inquiries show that behind the scenes, Satō was more accommodating towards US plans of stationing nuclear weapons on Japanese soil. In December 2008, the Japanese government declassified a document showing that during a visit to the US in January 1965, he was discussing with US officials the possibility of using nuclear weapons against the [[People's Republic of China]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/mediacenter/article.php?story=20081226170930777_en |title=Editorial: The U.S. nuclear umbrella, past and future |access-date=9 January 2011 |archive-date=19 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119122112/http://www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/mediacenter/article.php?story=20081226170930777_en |url-status=dead}}</ref> In December 2009, his son reported that his father agreed in a November 1969 conversation with US President Nixon to allow the stationing of nuclear warheads in [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]] even after it was restored to Japanese sovereignty.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/mediacenter/article.php?story=20091224152025789_en |title=Document on secret Japan-U.S. nuclear pact kept by ex-PM Sato's family |access-date=9 January 2011 |archive-date=17 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017163100/http://www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/mediacenter/article.php?story=20091224152025789_en |url-status=dead }}</ref>