 "Obama rebukes Trump's comments on nuclear weapons")
US President Barack Obama on Friday questioned Donald J Trump's fitness for office after statements from the Republican front-runner that the US and its allies should move away from decades of constraints on the use of nuclear weapons. "We don't want somebody in the Oval Office who doesn't recognise how important that is,"Obama said.
Speaking to reporters at the end of a summit meeting devoted to nuclear security, the president said the comments by Trump reflected a person who "doesn't know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally."
Obama has not hesitated to criticise Trump for contributing to a coarse tone and circuslike atmosphere on the campaign trail. But his criticism of the candidate's comments on nuclear proliferation was not about public language or personal style, but about one of the gravest responsibilities of an American president. It carried an extra edge because it involved an issue that Obama has made a central goal of his presidency.
He said world leaders and other participants at the conference had expressed concerns about Trump's comments during private conversations with him at the summit meeting, which gathered more than 50 world leaders to discuss ways to reduce the threat of a nuclear attack, whether from the leakage of nuclear fuel or the theft of a bomb by a terrorist group.
"Even those countries that are used to a carnival atmosphere in their own politics want sobriety and clarity when it comes to US elections because they understand that the president of the United States needs to know what's going on around the world," Obama said.
For the president, the two-day Nuclear Security Summit underscored both the loftiness of his vision for a nuclear-free planet and the hurdles of translating that vision into reality in a world of insecure leaders and of terrorist groups plotting to seize weapons. But the remarks of an American presidential candidate roiled the waters.
Trump said he was open to allowing Japan and South Korea to acquire nuclear weapons to deter their rogue neighbour, North Korea. He also declined to rule out using nuclear weapons in a military conflict in Europe, saying, "You don't want to, say, take everything off the table."
He first broached the issue of a nuclear-armed Japan and South Korea in an interview with The New York Times last week, putting it in the context of his case that the United States should no longer bear the full burden of defending its Asian allies. He defended his comments in a town-hall-style meeting on Tuesday in Milwaukee, televised by CNN.
"You have so many countries already - China, Pakistan, you have so many countries, Russia - you have so many countries right now that have them," he said. "Now, wouldn't you rather, in a certain sense, have Japan have nuclear weapons when North Korea has nuclear weapons?" A senior Japanese government official quickly reiterated that it was Japan's policy never to possess nuclear weapons.
On Friday, Obama described the alliance with Japan and South Korea as "one of the cornerstones of our presence in the Asia-Pacific region" - one that was paid for with the sacrifices of American soldiers during World War II, one that has expanded American influence and commerce and one that "has underwritten the peace and prosperity of that region."
"You don't mess with that," Obama added.
Speaking to reporters at the end of a summit meeting devoted to nuclear security, the president said the comments by Trump reflected a person who "doesn't know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally."
Obama has not hesitated to criticise Trump for contributing to a coarse tone and circuslike atmosphere on the campaign trail. But his criticism of the candidate's comments on nuclear proliferation was not about public language or personal style, but about one of the gravest responsibilities of an American president. It carried an extra edge because it involved an issue that Obama has made a central goal of his presidency.
He said world leaders and other participants at the conference had expressed concerns about Trump's comments during private conversations with him at the summit meeting, which gathered more than 50 world leaders to discuss ways to reduce the threat of a nuclear attack, whether from the leakage of nuclear fuel or the theft of a bomb by a terrorist group.
"Even those countries that are used to a carnival atmosphere in their own politics want sobriety and clarity when it comes to US elections because they understand that the president of the United States needs to know what's going on around the world," Obama said.
For the president, the two-day Nuclear Security Summit underscored both the loftiness of his vision for a nuclear-free planet and the hurdles of translating that vision into reality in a world of insecure leaders and of terrorist groups plotting to seize weapons. But the remarks of an American presidential candidate roiled the waters.
Trump said he was open to allowing Japan and South Korea to acquire nuclear weapons to deter their rogue neighbour, North Korea. He also declined to rule out using nuclear weapons in a military conflict in Europe, saying, "You don't want to, say, take everything off the table."
He first broached the issue of a nuclear-armed Japan and South Korea in an interview with The New York Times last week, putting it in the context of his case that the United States should no longer bear the full burden of defending its Asian allies. He defended his comments in a town-hall-style meeting on Tuesday in Milwaukee, televised by CNN.
"You have so many countries already - China, Pakistan, you have so many countries, Russia - you have so many countries right now that have them," he said. "Now, wouldn't you rather, in a certain sense, have Japan have nuclear weapons when North Korea has nuclear weapons?" A senior Japanese government official quickly reiterated that it was Japan's policy never to possess nuclear weapons.
On Friday, Obama described the alliance with Japan and South Korea as "one of the cornerstones of our presence in the Asia-Pacific region" - one that was paid for with the sacrifices of American soldiers during World War II, one that has expanded American influence and commerce and one that "has underwritten the peace and prosperity of that region."
"You don't mess with that," Obama added.
© 2016 The New York Times News Service