Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's latest portrayal of China as a nuclear threat was a political trick to gain domestic support and justify Tokyo's military growth, Beijing-based experts said yesterday.

Aso called for a unified international effort to push for nuclear nonproliferation in Prague on May 4 and noted "recent activities in China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) were threatening security in Asia."

The Japanese prime minister made the comment while attending the Japan-EU summit, less than a week after he met Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao late last month in Beijing.