BBC Chinese recently reported that, at the United Nations General Assembly Summit on Nuclear Disarmament, China accused Japan of possessing weapon grade nuclear materials and having plans for Japan to become a nuclear power. Japan strongly denied the accusation. The Chinese representative pointed out that all it would take for Japan to become a nuclear power in a very short period of time would be a political decision, because Japan has enough stored nuclear material. However, the Japanese representative argued that the entire inventory of Japan’s nuclear materials is under the surveillance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the IAEA has confirmed that it is for peaceful use only. China has been paying attention to Japan’s nuclear capabilities for a long time now. However, it’s highly unusual for China to engage Japan publicly at the United Nations over this matter. Japan is trying to determine what China’s motivation is for making this move.
Source: BBC Chinese, October 21, 2015
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world/2015/10/151021_japan_un_china