Japan's foreign minister on Monday denied a report that it had demarcated its territorial waters so as to avoid disputes over the movement of US warships carrying nuclear weapons.
"The territorial waters were not demarcated from a military standpoint," Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone told reporters.
Japan in the late 1970s delineated territorial waters that extended only three nautical miles (5.6 kilometre) from shore along five key straits, rather than the maximum allowable 12 nautical miles.
The Japanese Kyodo News agency, which said it was quoting several unidentified former vice foreign ministers, reported that this was done so that US warships could sail through those key choke points while avoiding Japanese territorial waters.
"It was set at three nautical miles so that the government would not need to lie" about the passage of US nuclear weapons, Kyodo said.
Japan, the world's only nation to have been attacked with atomic bombs, has officially maintained a "three non-nuclear principles" policy of not possessing or producing nuclear weapons or allowing them on its territory.
However, the stance has caused a dilemma for officially pacifist Japan because it has significantly relied on the US military, which has several major bases in the country, for national security since its defeat in World War II, including in nuclear deterrence.
Nakasone denied the report and said the government had designed the limits to its territorial waters "to assure unrestricted passage of foreign vessels."
Kyodo quoted former vice foreign ministers as saying US vessels carrying nuclear arms must have passed through the key straits during deterrence operations against threats by the former Soviet Union, China and North Korea.
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