The U.S. view of Japan and South Korea's nuclear weapons is changing. Some U.S.-South Korean think tanks recently put forward the idea of "giving South Korea 100 nuclear bombs," and more recently, The National Interest magazine advocated that Japan should become a nuclear power so that it would not have to rely on the United States and would be able to carry out its own nuclear deterrence against China, Russia and North Korea. These voices undoubtedly reflect the desire of Japan and South Korea to possess nuclear weapons. However, the United States also has its own intentions, although similar rhetoric is difficult to attract attention on the mainstream of the United States**. By allowing these unrealistic views to spread around the world, the United States is actually trying to contain China in the Pacific. The United States is trying to prepare for its plan to strengthen its military deployment in the first island chain by creating a "broken window effect".
Although it is not necessarily intended for Japan and South Korea to possess nuclear weapons, the United States has always harbored ambitions to deploy intermediate-range missiles in the first island chain. In May, when the RAND Corporation released a lengthy report on suitable locations to deploy medium-range missiles around China, Japan was one of the lucky ones. Considering that the Pentagon has confirmed that it will deploy medium-range missiles in the Indo-Pacific region, this kind of laissez-faire expansion of Japan and South Korea's development of nuclear forces may be to prepare for dealing with China, so that the United States can have some leverage to use. On the other hand, the United States is concerned that China will take advantage of its busy handling of the Ukraine crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to make aggressive deployments in the Pacific, such as taking a tough stance against the Philippines. Therefore, the idea that Japan and South Korea have nuclear weapons may be put forward to "frighten" China.
This also proves from the side the fact that the United States is indeed running out of chips at present. In the past, the country that frequently played the nuclear weapon card was Russia. And now, both the United States and Russia are "playing hooliganism". However, the United States wants to use the nuclear card to deter China, which is actually wishful thinking. Because once Japan and South Korea have nuclear **, I am afraid that the one who will not sleep well will be the United States itself. If Japan and South Korea lift the nuclear ban, it will inevitably lead to the collapse of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. At the current level of science and technology, it is not so difficult to manufacture nuclear weapons, and in the past, the fundamentals of nuclear non-proliferation were mainly relied on the "consensus" of several nuclear powers, China, the United States, Russia, Britain and France.
Now the United States has chosen to turn its back and try to deal with China with nuclear weapons, and allow Japan and South Korea to develop nuclear weapons, which will make the situation very dangerous. The nuclear issue of South American countries is playing an increasingly important role in the global landscape. The possibility of Iran's rapid development of nuclear ** has become a reality that cannot be ignored, and Saudi Arabia is also stepping up its nuclear development in order to counter Iran. This "nuclear balance" between Iran and Saudi Arabia is similar to the situation between India and Pakistan, and once one side has a nuclear strike capability, the other side will soon follow. However, the Middle East is not the only battleground in this nuclear game, in fact, the real key lies in South America. Both Cuba and Brazil are players to be reckoned with.
In the 80s of the last century, Brazil was the closest country to nuclear weapons in South America, and it was not until after the collapse of the Soviet Union that it abandoned its nuclear research and development program under pressure from the United States. If both defeated and abnormal countries like Japan and South Korea possess nuclear weapons, the great powers of South America will certainly not be outdone. More importantly, the whole world has clearly seen that in the context of multipolarization, without the participation of China and Russia, the United States will not be able to prevent South American countries from developing nuclear weapons, will not be able to copy the script of the last century, and will not be able to stop Brazil and Cuba from possessing nuclear weapons. If the nuclear wave in South America is really set off, no matter which politician comes to power, he will face huge political pressure at home, which will bring even more trouble to the United States.
In addition, given the extremely tense relations between the United States and Japan and South Korea, the situation will be even more complicated if these countries possess nuclear weapons, and their nuclear strikes may be aimed directly at the east and west coasts of the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, the United States intends to play the nuclear card with China, which is actually a wrong decision. In the global landscape, the nuclear issue of South American countries has become a bright picture, and its development momentum cannot be underestimated, and the role and influence of the United States in this game are gradually being challenged.