Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s former air force chief, forced into retirement for denying World War II aggression against its Asian neighbors, said the country should start a discussion on whether to develop nuclear weapons.

“I think there should be debate about this, because nuclear deterrence would be enhanced as a result,” Toshio Tamogami, former head of the Air Self Defense Force, told reporters today at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo. Japan, which is bound by a post-war pacifist constitution drafted by the U.S., is a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso was forced to distance himself from Tamogami after the general published an essay that said Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek drew Japan into war with China. The essay drew condemnation from China and Tamogami was dismissed on Oct. 31.

“The fundamental aim of history is to teach people to have pride in their nation, patriotism,” Tamogami said today. Outside of Japan, “people are taught how great and wonderful their country is,” he said.

Tamogami said he would have retaliated in kind had Japan possessed nuclear weapons in 1945 when the U.S. dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“Once you have been hit with something, then there is no choice but to hit back with it,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bradley K. Martin in Tokyo at bmartin18@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 1, 2008 02:13 EST